Craig Bellamy has revealed that helping his academy in Sierra Leone is the driving force in what remains of his football career.
The striker turns 32 next week and has been involved in six transfers totalling £45m plus emotional loan spells at Celtic and home town club Cardiff.
With the wealth that he has built up over the years he now donates a significant percentage of his earnings to the academy in Sierra Leone which also receives backing from UNICEF to the tune of £200,000 a year.
“Two friends of mine got the opportunity to work in machinery there for a couple of months,” the striker explained. “One of them is my best friend, and I told him that I would like to visit him if he was still there had the season finished (2006-2007). That is what happened.
“We spent the week just travelling the whole country. I took a lot of football kit with me, which I got from my sponsor Nike. I had loads of footballs, water bottles and bibs to give away.
“When we were travelling, and we saw a group of children playing football, we would stop, give them a ball and join in for a bit. I noticed that there were some exceptional players, but nothing was organised. There was no league for kids.”
Bellamy told The Telegraph: “I went to an orphanage, where a woman was living with a group of young children. It was incredible to see the time she gave for them. There were no books, tables, pens. They didn’t even have any beds; they were sleeping on the floor. Sierra Leone is a beautiful country, but one of the poorest as well. Just completely under the radar.
“I have always liked the idea of doing something for children, whether it would be here in Wales, or somewhere else. I wanted to do something different, but it was difficult to find the right project.
“Once I offered my primary school a donation of £25,000, but they were mainly questioning me, why I was doing it and what was beneficial for me.
“They probably thought that I was after extra publicity. If they had known me, they would have known that was the last thing I wanted. So that didn’t happen.
“After I saw the orphanage, I thought about building one of these, or maybe a school. But for education you have to pay, and if I was going to make a free one, I would have 6 million children in school.
“The idea then was of starting a football school for talented players, so that I could keep the numbers down. This way, at least I could still make an impact on children who otherwise would never have had this opportunity.”
Bellamy is currently in dispute with Manchester City who are looking to recoup a transfer fee as well as remove his £80,000/week wages but the striker is in no mood to be paid off.
“No chance, that is impossible,” he responded to the suggestion of taking a reduced pay off from the Premiership side. “Because I have my own academy where I have to take care of 13 children, day in, day out. My wages are more important to them, than they are for me. Manchester City is the richest club in the world.
“They work to a budget that no one else works to, so they can write their own rules.”
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