National law firm HBJ Gateley Wareing, which has offices in Edinburgh and Glasgow, will be taking to the football field in an effort to tackle homelessness this May.

They will represent the Central American country of Mexico at the Homeless World Cup Kinetic 5s football tournament, to be held at the Toryglen Regional Football Centre in Glasgow on 28th May 2011.

The Kinetic 5s tournament gives participating companies the opportunity to represent and support one of the 53 nations taking part in the Paris 2011 Homeless World Cup, taking place at the Champs de Mars, Paris, France from 21-28 August 2011.

Founded in 2003 by Scottish social entrepreneur, Mel Young, the Homeless World Cup is a unique, pioneering social enterprise which exists to end homelessness. They work to support football programmes and social enterprise development through a network of over 70 national partners around the globe.


The winning team will be treated to a day behind the scenes at Murray Park (Rangers’ Training Ground) where they will play against the Scotland Squad for the Paris 2011 Homeless World Cup.

HBJ Gateley Wareing is one of Scotland’s top specialists in social housing law and places a strong emphasis on its corporate social responsibility programmes. These most recently included collecting household goods for Starter Packs Glasgow, a charity that helps homeless people set up a new home, and collecting goods for Castle Rock Edinvar Housing Association’s Midlothian Advice and resource Centre (MARC2), supporting low income households starting new tenancies.

Kate Dewar, a partner in the social housing team at HBJ Gateley Wareing said: “Now in its 9th year the Homeless World Cup annual tournament is an important fixture in the global fight to alleviate homelessness and highlight the plight of the many millions across the world who have no permanent home or a safe place to stay at night.

“As one of Scotland's top specialists in social housing law, HBJ Gateley Wareing is proud to support the beautiful game as the battle to beat this injustice is played out on the football field."

Mel Young, President and co-Founder of the Homeless World Cup said: “The Homeless World Cup is delighted to have the support of HBJ Gateley Wareing at this tournament. It is great to have them on board in the Kinetic 5s Glasgow to demonstrate the true power that sport and football has to change people’s lives.”

(GK/KMcA)