CAPE TOWN ISSUE 199 Feb 2010

Mark Lanning Photography Cape Town photographers

A million football dreams on the streets of the townships. With the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa less than 120 days away, Mark Lanning went on an epic ten-day trip around his country of birth.

"I needed to capture for myself what it is about football that gives so many people hope and the promise of a better future. A game that allows the poorest of the poor to play themselves out of poverty."

Starting at Alexander Bay on the boarder with Namibia, where the mighty Orange River meets the Atlantic Ocean, Mark continued down the west coast to Cape Town, along the Garden Route to Port Elizabeth on the east coast, and then inland through Graaff Reinet and back to Johannesburg.

"Once I was in any of the many townships along the route a game of 'street football' was always only five minuets away. For me the journey was a truly spiritual one: I saw a side of my country, and the world, that showed that football is without a doubt a 'unifying religion'. It transcends class, colour, gender and age. This is my story and these are my pictures."

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