One thing we can all do to become more sustainable football fans (and score green goals with Green Football’s Great Save campaign for Cardiff City FC!) is to donate or upcycle old football kit.
For more than a decade, Cardiff City FC has supported the KitAid charity, with thousands of items of kit donated.
KitAid is a charity set up by Derrick Williams MBE, who visited Tanzania on a WaterAid supporters’ trip in 1998.
Derrick, being a big football fan, was amazed at the reception he received from children and adults in remote villages just because he was wearing one of his favourite football shirts (he follows Watford, Liverpool and Chesham Utd).
After two weeks in Tanzania, a flame was lit in Derrick’s heart and he was on a mission to provide kit and equipment to the bare-footed children playing with footballs made of tied string and plastic bags. Twenty-seven years on, KitAid has lots of volunteers and to date has sent out 1,000,000+ kits to children and adults in 55 different countries across the world.
In recent years, supporting KitAid, Cardiff City FC has donated more than fifty boxes of old match kit (including match shirts, shorts, tracksuits, jumpers and tee-shirts of all sizes), worn by the First Team and Academy age groups. Special thanks and recognition go to members of our Retail department over the years, as well as Kit & Equipment Manager, Chris Derrick and Callum Hayes.
Derrick Williams MBE, Founder of the charity KitAid said: “We are extremely grateful to Cardiff City Football Club who have been long term supporters of our work.
“Over the years, many hundreds of shirts and items of kit have been donated to our projects across Africa. This has given them a second life and supported many football teams and projects such as the dental support work in Mozambique.
“We have a saying that, ‘It’s more than just a shirt.’ Cardiff City have been instrumental in extending the life of hundreds of kits across Africa and beyond.”
Lee Southernwood, Head of Football Operations at Cardiff City FC, added: “Cardiff City Football Club has committed to help save some of the 100,000 tonnes of sports kit that ends up in landfill every year.
“We are proud to continue to support KitAid by donating much of our pre-loved match and training kit to underprivileged children and adults in some of the world’s poorest countries.
“Through the efforts of KitAid, countless disadvantaged children have had the opportunity to experience the joy of pulling on their very own football shirt for the first time.”
For more information on how to donate your kit and support KitAid, click here.