How Sierra Leone changed Craig
Football fans are about to see a new side to Craig Bellamy.
A side detached from prolific goalscorer we see giving 100 per cent for the Red cause week in, week out.
A side that, almost five years ago, decided to establish a charity for children in Sierra Leone without any fanfare whatsoever.
Bellamy has never spoken at length about his work helping youngsters whose lives have been marred by a bloody civil war - until now.
The Liverpool striker reluctantly agreed to give TV cameras an insight into why he set up the Craig Bellamy Foundation, how its work has stunned UNICEF and the impact all this has had on him as a player and as a man.
'Craig Bellamy's African Dream' will air on ITV4 at 9pm GMT on Tuesday night (repeated on February 8 at 6.15pm, for those at the game tonight) and reveals how the project has transformed him.
"I had always wanted to get involved in charity work in the UK but going to Sierra Leone made me think, 'We're okay'," said Bellamy.
"These kids have nothing. They weren't playing with footballs. They had rolled up socks or oranges, but their love for the game is what we had 20 or 30 years ago.
"Very rarely do you see kids playing football on the street here anymore. Sierra Leone just brought that back and made me think 'I'd like to do something here.'"
And that's just what Bellamy did, pouring more than £1.2m into establishing Sierra Leone's first and only national youth league and professional football academy.
The academy houses, provides for and trains 20 promising footballers and will soon have room for 20 more.
But as much emphasis is placed on academic and personal development as sport.
The youth league tackles the country's urgent social priorities by involving more than 2,000 children in 100 teams that earn points not only for match results, but also for school attendance, fair play and leading community development projects.
There is a girls' league and a team for amputees maimed in the civil war.
"That I've been able to help people in a worse situation gives me more satisfaction than anything football's been able to give me," said Bellamy.
"At 22, 23, would I have been able to do this? Of course not. I'm older and I'm financially secure, but that means little to me.
"It took a while to convince me to do the documentary. I don't do this for people to have a different opinion of me. That's not too important to me.
"I realised I had to do this documentary for me to sustain income. UNICEF are moving on to other projects and for me to give more children an opportunity I had to be realistic that this cannot keep coming from my pocket.
"I will keep funding the academy but we are going to rely on charitable donations for the youth league, the women's league and the amputee team.
"I have put a lot of money into the project in Sierra Leone but every time I go over, I would spend again.
"I get thanks when I'm over there but, if I'm honest, I need to thank them more for what they've done for me as a person."
The results achieved by the foundation so far have astounded both UNICEF and the communities involved, as CEO Tim Kellow underlined: "The average school attendance rate among the children in our league is 96 per cent.
"Compare this to the national average of 21 per cent and you begin to get a picture of just how big a difference we are making to the future of Sierra Leone."
While Bellamy is doing so much unseen work to improve the lives of those less fortunate, his own life was rocked in November by the death of close friend and international boss Gary Speed.
The news and the support he has received since then from friends, colleagues at Liverpool and a sports psychologist have contributed to him discovering a new perspective.
Bellamy said: "I've always listened to people talking about winning - win this, win that - but I've done more than I could have dreamed of in my career. I've already won.
"The two things I ask my kids after they have played a game are, 'Did you enjoy it?' and 'Did you do your best?' but I wasn't asking myself the same questions.
"It's just that we get taught, 'You must win this, you must do that'. It's rubbish.
"Be thankful for what you've done. Keep trying hard. Don't let it ruin your life. I've done that for too long."
For more information please visit the website - www.craigbellamyfoundation.org.