Soccer legend Charlton takes to the minefield

English soccer great Bobby Charlton was taking to a different sort of field this week - a minefield.

The former Manchester United and England midfielder had a kickabout with youngsters in war-scarred Cambodia, one of the world's most heavily mined countries, to try to get children to take the lingering threat from the explosives seriously.

"Seeing youngsters without limbs, just getting on with their life, is hard to take," Charlton said during a visit to the western province of Battambang, which saw some of the heaviest fighting in years of war between government troops and Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge rebels.

"Coming from our world, it is difficult to come to terms with the idea that you could be in danger just walking down the street," he said.

Charlton, 69, a member of England's 1966 World Cup-winning team, was travelling with skateboarding legend Tony Hawk on a visit organised by the Laureus Sport for Good Foundation.

He donned a protective vest and head-gear to walk through an area being cleared of landmines.

An estimated 5 million landmines and unexploded bombs are littered around Cambodia's borders with Thailand, Vietnam and Laos, the legacy of three decades of civil war and unrest, including the Khmer Rouge "Killing Fields" of the 1970s.

Because unexploded landmines and artillery shells are so common, many children do not take the threat from them seriously - often with lethal consequences.