School footballers hope to bridge Israel's great cultural and religious divide with a love of the beautiful game.

Staff and students from the Chelsea School of Physical Education, Eastbourne, are preparing for a summer trip to Ibillin, in northern Israel, to teach football training to young Muslims, Christians and Jews.

The week-long camp is the second to be organised through the school and staff are hoping it will go some way to build relations between young people of different religions.

Professor John Sugden, 49, from Willingdon, near Eastbourne, is helping organise the August trip.

He said: "In the context of September 11, the war in Afghanistan and the escalating violence in the Middle East, projects such as this, no matter how small, are more important than ever.

"It's not just about football, it's about getting the kids to learn to trust each other and talking to the communities."

The project will be supported financially by those going. Ten staff and friends have volunteered to raise £1,000 each by running the Flora London Marathon.

They are being supported by former world champion distance and marathon runner David Bedford.

Mr Bedford, Britain's only 10,000m world-record holder, gave the starting places to the Eastbourne team and visited the college on Tuesday to talk to the entrants about how to prepare for the race on April 14.

Mr Sugden said: "The oldest runner is 51 and the youngest 28. Some of them have run marathons before but there are others who couldn't run the length of a car.

"We are hoping to raise £10,000 to be able to buy all the equipment we need."