Recruiter Penny Streeter OBE has stepped into the breach and paid for the air travel for the South African football team following the withdrawal of government funding for the flight of the 10-man squad to the Homeless World Cup in Italy next week.

The managing director of nursing recruiter Ambition 24hours, who was homeless herself, opened offices in South Africa in 2004.

Streeter says: “I read that funding by the City of Cape Town stopped because of huge demands on their budgets in the recession, so I felt I had to step in.

“Homelessness is a terrible waste of good people, usually overtaken by events with which they just can’t cope - in the UK, one in four of the homeless are ex-military.

“It’s a problem which should get more attention, given British involvement in Afghanistan and Iraq.”