Soccer Saves: Soccer Team Changes Lives at South African Prison

DRAKENSTEIN CORRECTIONAL CENTRE, South Africa, July 1, 2010— -- Simphiwe Mtingane spent his first years in prison trying to earn respect -- by stabbing other prisoners. He was serving a 10-year sentence for rape, trying, he said, to rise through the ranks of a jailhouse gang.

But somewhere along the way, he realized he needed to change, he said, even at the risk of retaliation from fellow gang members. And he put that life behind him.

His way out? Soccer.

Now, Mtingane, 23, an inmate at South Africa's Drakenstein Correctional Centre, is co-captain of the prison's innovative Hope Academy soccer squad.

"A lot of inmates say that I'm a coward, that I'm running away," he said. "But I told myself, for me to become a better man, I am the one that has to make the decision... I'm being strong."

Watch the full story tonight on "Nightline" at 11:35 p.m. ET

Soccer, called "football" here in South Africa and much of the world, is a great unifier, bridging cultural and racial divides. In a country where 11 languages are spoken, they say soccer is the one universal language. And, according to the Christian missionaries running Hope Academy at this 580-inmate prison, soccer is a pathway to a better life for the 18 men who make up its soccer team.

"We're looking at their football ability,'' said Mark Slessenger, national director of Hope Academy." Also, we want prisoners who have a desire to change, do something with their life, so they've got to have an attitude where they actually want to progress, get out of prison and do something positive."

Hope Academy is devoted to getting inmates out of the brutal gang culture that permeates South African prisons.

"These guys love football,'' said Slessenger "It's what they enjoy and soccer is just a way to get the guys out of the gangs. And if a guy loves soccer, he's willing to leave the gang to come and develop because of his love for the sport."

The team lives together in a communal cell, which they're required to keep impeccably neat. They must agree to live by a strict code: No violence, no drugs, no trouble in prison.