In an attempt to give sport in Nepal a kick up the backside, Nepa-laya and Kathmandu Khel Mandal have joined forces to organise a nationwide promotional football tour for 'A' Division side New Road Team, which will play against local teams in eight cities.

"The main objective behind organising this tour is to push-start sporting activities, which have been affected by both internal and external politics," said Kiran Krishna Shrestha of Nepa-laya.

During the tour, the team will run football clinics for local children conducted by NRT coaches Yogamber Suwal and Maheswor Mulmi, while FIFA-recognised referee Sriram Ranjitkar will hold workshops for local referees when he is not refereeing the matches.

As sports is largely neglected in Nepal, Nepa-laya and KKM are hoping the publicity generated by the tour might encourage more Nepalis to participate in sport. As the recent Beijing Olympics showed, Nepali athletes attend international sport events woefully under-prepared, with minimal government or private sector support, and little hope of winning. Aspiring sportsmen and women often find themselves having to deal more with political wheeler-dealing over sponsorship and financial issues than being able to focus on their training and improvement.

The NRT tour, managed by Nepa-laya and with KKM lending its sporting expertise, will kick off in Janakpur on 6 September. The tour will then continue to Kakarvitta, Itahari, Kawasoti, Mahendranagar, Nepalganj and Baglung before finishing on 27 September in Gorkha.

Narendra Shrestha, chairman of KKMNRT said: "We are glad to be working with Nepa-laya in making this tour happen. This kind of sporting initiative is a positive step and we do hope it will have a positive impact in the sporting sector of the nation, especially football."