Few in Torrevieja may have heard of ‘The Shirt’ but that is all about the change as in the second week of November, Bjorn Bjornstrom an ex-professional footballer with a long career in Norway and England (Leyton Orient) shall cycle into town. The reason that this is so special is because he is a man on a mission; a mission to spread the word about ‘Soccer Against Crime and Racism’. His one year plan started in June when he left Oslo on a standard mountain bike pulling all of his worldly goods for the trip in a small trailer behind him. The task in hand is a major challenge as he plans to cycle and hitchhike his way from Oslo to South Africa for the 2010 World Cup, visiting 50 countries in the process.
The Shirt 2010 already has the backing of the Norwegian Refugee Council and the South African Premier Soccer League and last week he received official recognition from FIFA with the signature of Sepp Blatter himself.
The Shirt 2010 is an initiative from Bjorn Heidelstrom. Along the route, he's picked up official support from a number of organisations, including the Irish Football Association and FIFA and whilst he's cycling through Spain, he hopes to get more organisations on board and turn The Shirt 2010 into a symbol of solidarity for football fans around the world. Bjorn is cycling from Oslo to Cape Town and collecting signed football jerseys from all teams of all levels along the way. All these shirts will be be sewn together to form the world's largest signed football-shirt - a symbol of the unity of the football family and its solidarity with the plight of young refugees.
He says, "We are creating the world's largest football shirt - a shirt and a symbol that is sewn together by the signed club-shirts. The Shirt symbolises the ‘football family’ standing together and not forgetting the small ones." Big clubs, little clubs and even fans who sign their own shirts can become a part of the one big shirt - all are welcome.
Bjorn's journey began in Oslo back on June 20 (2009) and he's already been through Scandinavia and the Baltic, the UK and Ireland and now he's heading down through Europe. He'll be arriving in Spain on October 27 and his first port of call will be Barcelona where he'll be stopping off at Camp Nou to pick up a shirt before heading along the coast to Valencia, Calpe, Alicante and Torrevieja, picking up as many shorts as possible on the way.
How Can You Help? Obviously, the whole idea is to get as many people involved as possible so we want you to spread the word and/or to donate a shirt. For more up to date information about Bjorn's trip, check out his daily updated Shirt 2010 blog on www.theshirt2010.com.
Bjorn Heidelstrom and The Shirt 2010 shall be in Torrevieja from about November 9th, 2009 , where a number of festivities are being planned including a civic reception, an appearance at FC Torrevieja’s Stadium, coaching of the players at the Sheffield United Academy (Sheffield United treated him exceptionally well while in the UK) plus a series of fund raising events at the Rocajuna in Torrevieja which shall probably include a car display from Club Torrevieja Classics and Specialists Cars, a Pie and Mash Night, a Fun Sports and Entertainment Quiz Night, music to dance to plus lots of other activities. More information and video of his activities in Torrevieja shall be broadcast around the world on www.CostaBlancaTV.com.
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