AFRICAN visitors staying in North Yorkshire are switching allegiance – by supporting the England football team.

The meerkats at Flamingo Land theme park, near Malton, formed a five-a-side team to pose in front of the St George’s Cross to show their support for Fabio Capello and our boys. One of the team can be seen here.

The small burrowing animals, which are a member of the mongoose family, caught footie fever after watching the football on television. Simple.

Naburn Primary School kicked off the World Cup season with a football-crazy activity day.

After an assembly in which the children sang the World Cup theme song in a school hall decorated with flags from all the different countries, the children were split into mixed age groups.

They made megaphones, salt dough medals and invented their own football chants. They also learnt more about the meaning behind the World Cup mascot Zakumi, the South African leopard.

During the next few weeks, the school will be using the cup as a theme for lessons. The children will learn about the different countries taking part in the tournament, the history of football and they will design, print and paint their own football kits.

The school is also holding a cup draw of five-a-side mixed age teams.

Head teacher Nicola Stephenson Barr said there were many strands to the World Cup that could be extended to all different ages.

“It’s been really nice for them to work in mixed age classes and see the older children help the younger ones,” she said. “They’re all so interested in it, it makes sense to link it to our learning.”

Families in York, North and East Yorkshire have been enjoying the action at home too, decorating their homes and gardens with football crazy flags.

Let’s hope all this enthusiasm from schools, children in their gardens and meerkats gets us somewhere tomorrow against Algeria.