Todd has been carefully planning and biding his time against Covid to get out to Sierra Leone to work on this personal project. Last month he finally managed to get out there with his assistant, to spend two weeks with the Flying Stars teams in Freetown and Bo.

The civil war in Sierra Leone (1991-2002) not only killed more than 50,000 people, it also led to thousands of innocent civilians having legs, arms or hands forcibly amputated by rebel soldiers. Or removed by landmines.

The Flying Star Amputees are a football team born out of the adversity of this war. All the players are victims of civil war amputations, and football has brought them a level of joy, confidence, and hope for a better future for disabled people in Sierra Leone.

This project has been selected as the AOP Awards 2021 silver winner, in the Sports category.