Recycling sports kit
You don’t need football posts to play football, but it helps.
The same can be said for football boots, socks, shorts and shirts. You can still play football in bare feet, but scuffing your toes on the stony fields and tracks of a township in South Africa is no fun at all. In the tough environment of the Cape Flats it’s very special to have your own boots, but parents (many single parents) cannot afford to buy football kit for their children. Charity is their only chance of getting something that resembles the footware of their footballing heroes.
Guernsey charity Goal50 established KitXchange seven years ago. As a result, hundreds of shirts that have graced many a Guernsey football field have travelled a full 6,000 miles and given unsuspecting recipients the thrill of a lifetime. You’ll find Norman Piette and Aurigny sponsored shirts bringing joy to innocent young footballers in some of the most violent communities on the planet.
Not that the distribution of kit is necessarily a straightforward process. The South African-based Goal50 distribution team have learnt that boots can only be borrowed from the boot bank and not given to individuals. Boots are easily stolen and sold to pay for food or to feed an addiction. “We support these types of initiatives in our attempt to reshape this sort of cultural behaviour,” adds Nigel Pascoe, founder of Goal50, “but changing a culture to one of respect for the property of others takes time. We’re in this for the long haul.”
Orchestrator of KitXchange, Clara Le Vallée, is deeply grateful to local businesses, sports clubs, corporate sports teams, schools and scores of individuals who have made regular donations. “There’ll never be enough to meet the demand” she explains, “so we’ll keep asking Guernsey to help us… and I’m sure that they will deliver.” Clara estimates that she and, and her enthusiastic sons have packed more than 2,500 items since KitXchange began. DHL will deliver the current consignment to Cape Town by the end of June.
“We can always find a good home for sports clothing.”
The kit sent to Cape Town is a mix of adult and junior. Clothing a full squad, whatever the sport, is like gold to Goal50’s distribution team. But perhaps the most sought-after items are replica Premiership club kits. Township children are more inclined to follow the fortunes of the likes of Manchester United and Arsenal than any South African club team. There have been some interesting items donated over the years, including those retro psychedelic goalkeeper jerseys (remember them?), cricket pads, hockey sticks, boxing gloves and a pair of wet bathers.
KitXchange isn’t limited to just football. “We’ve sent a full squad netball kit and running vests” explains Clara, “we can always find a good home for sports clothing. If you have something you could recycle, please call me on 07781 452 336 or email me on pixie@cwgsy.net and your contribution will make the next consignment. Donated items are met with great joy in the townships. For many it represents a new set of clothes as they possess only the clothing that they are wearing.”
Please consider Goal50’s KitXchange once your child has outgrown their boots, their kit, their replica shirts. You may never meet the beneficiary, but you’ll get pleasure from knowing the donation will bring joy to someone living in the harshest of communities.
You can make a financial donation using the button below.
