Ex-England goalkeeper David James backs football kit drive for Peterborough
The former Liverpool number one is behind Football Rebooted
A project that sells unwanted football shirts to low-income families in Peterborough is hoping to use the FIFA World Cup to drive up interest.
Goal2Grow - set up by community interest company Up The Garden Bath - has sold 1,000 shirts since it launched in May last year, and has former England goalkeeper David James as an ambassador.
"It's captured the imagination of the nation," Dave Poulton, who helped set up Goal2Grow, said.
"It's about uniting the community, sport should be accessible to everyone regardless of their demographic, so if we can get one kid inspired to support a team or a country, get healthy, we've done our job."
By donating football kits from inside the Unity shop in Queensgate Shopping Centre, Mr Poulton - who co-founded Up The Garden Bath - hopes Goal2Grow can help fund community projects in and around Peterborough.
The project teamed up with Football Rebooted, co-founded by James - which gives second-hand football boots a new home - at a recent football festival held in the city with support from Utilita and Peterborough City Council.
"If you haven't got the boots, then you can't take part," James said.
"We want people to enjoy football for all the benefits it brings, but you need to be able to access that, and Football Rebooted is one way we can help people.
"I'm fortunate enough to be in a position where I can do a lot of charity football, wear boots given to me and I will then bring them to Football Rebooted because it's more important other people are getting the opportunity than me having a pair of boots sitting in a cupboard."
Kits given 'second life'
Football Rebooted - which James said has around 800 donation boxes across the country - has saved more than one million pairs of boots from going to landfill.
"So much clothing ends up in landfill, it's appalling; giving it a second life is brilliant," Mr Poulton added.
England played Panama in their final Group L game at this year's World Cup last night, and the tournament could encourage more families to give football a try.
"We want children to smile, communities to connect, and people to feel proud of where they live," Kez Hayes-Palmer, from Up The Garden Bath, said.
"This is about more than football; this is about community, creativity, sustainability, and showing what is possible when people come together with heart and purpose.”