Sheffield FC have officially handed the first batch of boots to youngsters in South Africa this week.

Chairman Richard Tims attended the special ceremony on Thursday, along with Rev. Dr. Makhenkesi Stofile, South Africa's minister for sport and recreation, at Johannesburg Stadium.

The boots were presented by Richard and the minister to a group of young footballers before kick-off at an exhibition game at the stadium.

Sheffield FC, the oldest club in the world, has collected more than 2,500 pairs of boots as part of their Boots for Africa campaign.

Before heading to South Africa, Richard said: "We are absolutely delighted to be going over to Africa to present the boots almost a year to the day when we started the campaign in Sheffield.

"There has been a fantastic response to the campaign from people all across the United Kingdom. We hope this will be the start of even more boots being delivered right up until the 2010 World Cup in South Africa."

Team manager Dave McCarthy, assistant Lee Walshaw and club official Roger Clinton joined Richard at the presentation.

Sheffield FC have gained support for the campaign from the Sports Trust, the South African High Commission, the Royal Bank of Scotland, Bright Finance and the African Football Confederation.

The club also teamed-up with the world's largest express transportation company FedEx Express to deliver the boots.