Special Olympics proudly welcomes WWE to South Africa!
JOHANNESBURG, 9 March 2018 — Special Olympics South Africa today proudly welcomed WWE Superstar Titus O’Neil to South Africa. Titus captained a Play Unified football team against South Africa’s Mark Fish’s Play Unified team at Unity College Special Needs School to show his support for the global social inclusion movement.
The event was part of the WWE media tour on radio and on television, WWE, Special Olympics Africa and Special Olympics South Africa were celebrating the global relationship between Special Olympics and WWE.
South Africa is the first country on the African continent to host a Play Unified event with WWE talent!
The event saw two the teams compete in a Unified Recreational event. Titus O’ Neil and Mark Fish were joined by Special Olympics South Africa athletes and Unified partners from the Gauteng provincial team, and Special Olympics South Africa ambassadors MMA athlete, Garreth “Soldierboy” McLellan and 7de Laan’s Andre Lotter and rap artist Preddi Ugly.
Special Olympics South Africa local supporters rap artist Gigi Lemanye, DJ Citi Lyts and Mrs South Africa and Mrs World 2016, Candice Abraham were on hand to support the teams.
Special Olympics South Africa ambassador, Melanie Ramjee, owner of TuTone Communications was also there to support.
The game in a 5–5 draw with exciting penalty shoot outs at the end.
Titus O’Neil said, “It is an honour to play with the athletes of Special Olympics. They display so much talent and athleticism”.
He later declared that they were all now part of the greatest fraternity in the world, brand Titus World Wide!
Mark Fish said, “Sport brings people together, whether you are a wrestler, a football player, black, white, disabled or not! That is the power of sport. It was a great experience playing with Titus. I am so proud to be an Ambassador of Special Olympics South Africa.”
Acting Principal of Unity College, Anita Wiley, said “Unity College Special Needs School was honoured and privileged to host WWE in partnership with Special Olympics South Africa. Together we welcome WWE and express our gratitude to them for showing support for learners with special needs in South Africa”
Special Olympics is dedicated to promoting social inclusion through shared sports training and competition experiences. Unified Sports® joins people with and without intellectual disabilities on the same team. In Unified Sports®, teams are made up of people of the same age and ability. About 1.4 million people worldwide take part in Unified Sports, breaking down stereotypes about people with intellectual disabilities in a really fun way.
Opening Doors and Promoting Inclusion for People with Intellectual Disabilities
Since 1995, WWE has partnered to support Special Olympics’ Play Unified campaign, which fosters friendships, understanding, and inclusive communities among people with and without intellectual disabilities by uniting them through the power and joy of sports.
WWE Superstars participate in Play Unified events with Special Olympics athletes from around the world, including China, India, Mexico, Germany, the United Kingdom, the United States, and now in South Africa!
The WWE LIVE SOUTH AFRICA tour begins at the Grand Arena, GrandWest, Cape Town on Wednesday, April 18, and Thursday, April 19 before debuting at the Sun Arena, Time Square, Pretoria, on Friday, April 20. The tour concludes at the Ticketpro Dome, Johannesburg on Saturday, April 21.
Tickets for WWE LIVE SOUTH AFRICA in Cape Town, Johannesburg and, for the first time, Pretoria, are available from bigconcerts.co.za and computicket.com.
The family-friendly events will feature WWE Superstars Braun Strowman™, Seth Rollins™, Roman Reigns™ Alexa Bliss™, Sasha Banks™, Asuka™, RAW Tag Team Champions Cesaro™ and Sheamus™, and more.*
About the WWE and Special Olympics Partnership
Since 1995, WWE has partnered to support Special Olympics’ Play Unified campaign, which fosters friendships, understanding, and inclusive communities among people with and without intellectual disabilities by uniting them through the power and joy of sports.
WWE Superstars participate in Play Unified events with Special Olympics athletes from around the world, including China, India, Mexico, Germany, the United Kingdom, the United States, and now in South Africa!
WWE utilizes its global platforms including WWE Network, television broadcasts, live events, and digital and social media to generate awareness and support for Special Olympics.
“Special Olympics and WWE have an authentic, shared value of creating understanding and inclusion and celebrating diversity. We are thrilled that WWE is joining us in Playing and Living Unified,” said Special Olympics CEO Mary Davis. Davis added “when an influential entity, like WWE, publicly demonstrates their support for Special Olympics and marshals its support around us, that’s an incredibly validating signal to our over 5 million Special Olympics athletes that says ‘you count, you’re not invisible, your life matters.’”
“WWE is proud to expand our support of Special Olympics globally and help spread the message of acceptance and inclusion to people all around the world,” said Stephanie McMahon, WWE Chief Brand Officer. “The heart, passion, and dedication of Special Olympics athletes has served as inspiration to all of our Superstars, and we are certain that anyone who has the honor of joining these athletes in competition will walk away focused on helping us build a unified generation.”
To read more about the partnership and learn about the Play Unified campaign, visit www.specialolympics.org and www.playunified.org.
About Special Olympics
Special Olympics is a global movement that unleashes the human spirit through the transformative power and joy of sports, every day around the world. We empower people with intellectual disabilities to become accepted and valued members of their communities, which leads to a more respectful and inclusive society for all. Using sports as the catalyst and programming around health and education, Special Olympics is fighting inactivity, injustice and intolerance. Founded in 1968 by Eunice Kennedy Shriver, the Special Olympics movement has grown to more than 5.3 million athletes and Unified partners in 170 countries. With the support of more than 1 million coaches and volunteers, Special Olympics delivers 32 Olympic-type sports and over 108,000 games and competitions throughout the year. Special Olympics is supported by individuals, foundations and partners. Click here for a full list of partners. Engage with us on: Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram and our blog on Medium.
Special Olympics Africa Region is one of the seven regions of Special Olympics. It works closely with its 20 accredited Programs, Special Olympics Benin, Special Olympics Botswana, Special Olympics Burkina Faso, Special Olympics Côte d’Ivoire, Special Olympics Ghana, Special Olympics Kenya, Special Olympics Malawi, Special Olympics Mali, Special Olympics Mauritius, Special Olympics Nigeria, Special Olympics Rwanda, Special Olympics Senegal, Special Olympics Seychelles, Special Olympics South Africa, Special Olympics Swaziland, Special Olympics Tanzania, Special Olympics Togo, Special Olympics Uganda, Special Olympics Zambia and Special Olympics Zimbabwe to promote the Special Olympics movement throughout the Region. Engage with us on: Twitter, Facebook, Flickr and YouTube.
About WWE
WWE, a publicly traded company (NYSE: WWE), is an integrated media organization and recognized leader in global entertainment. The company consists of a portfolio of businesses that create and deliver original content 52 weeks a year to a global audience. WWE is committed to family friendly entertainment on its television programming, pay-per-view, digital media and publishing platforms. WWE programming reaches more than 650 million homes worldwide in 25 languages. WWE Network, the first-ever 24/7 over-the-top premium network that includes all live pay-per-views, scheduled programming and a massive video-on-demand library, is currently available in more than 180 countries. The company is headquartered in Stamford, Connecticut, with offices in New York, Los Angeles, London, Mexico City, Mumbai, Shanghai, Singapore, Dubai, Munich and Tokyo.
Additional information on WWE (NYSE: WWE) can be found at wwe.com & corporate.wwe.com. For information on our global activities, go to http://www.wwe.com/worldwide/
