Charity's success story offers African adventure

KitAid’s first African Ambassador Club wants to give an Evo-Stik Northern Premier League side a game this summer!

As the league’s official charity gears up for its annual Easter collection next month, Uganda’s Stegota FC are fast becoming one of KitAid’s biggest success stories in helping disadvantaged young footballers in more than 30 countries around the world.

More than 200,000 donated shirts have been delivered since the charity’s foundation in 1998 and since receiving their first donation of kit three years ago, Stegota have grown into one of the biggest clubs in the capital Kampala with crowds of 1,500 plus now regularly attending their games.

They are on the verge of entering the FUFA Big League, the country’s national league, are in the process of raising funds to build their own ground, have their own monthly magazine, website, produce their own replica shirts and on Sunday (March 9) are hoping to pull off a giant-killing to reach the last 16 of the Ugandan FA Cup by knocking out professional side Jinja MC in a recently donated Cardiff City kit.

Stegota were honoured in 2013 as an Ambassador Club by KitAid for their work in distributing kit across Kampala to teams who need help and Chairman Edwin Nshuti says any club or clubs taking up their invitation can look forward to "great hosts and an unforgettable tour" with national parks and popular tourist sites close by.

KitAid’s founder, Derrick Williams MBE, believes Stegota deserve the chance to take on an Evo-Stik NPL side and said that Graham Taylor, the charity’s patron, even paid tribute to the club’s success recently by donating a pair of his old boots which are now proudly on display in their trophy cabinet.

Williams said: "We have built a really strong relationship with Stegota over the last three years and are full of admiration for their ingenuity and hard work. They have become a really well organised club and are desperate to pit their wits against a Non-League side from the UK and the Evo-Stik Northern Premier in particular as our official league partner.

"As Stegota FC have very little funding they would need the visiting team to meet all their own expenses but they can guarantee an amazing time and we would love to help in their quest. I’m sure that any team who can make the journey to Kampala will have a brilliant experience.

"If anyone wants more information please email KitAid using the following address, kitaid@affinitywater.co.uk. I’ll happily put them in touch and we’ll do everything we can to help organise things."

"In the meantime, we’re looking forward to collecting thousands of unwanted, old or discarded kit again this year at the two games over the Bank Holiday weekend in the middle of April. In recent years clubs like Marine, FC United of Manchester, Witton Albion and many others who’ve donated kit or held their own collections have helped us send out more than 30,000 shirts after Easter which is a fantastic effort.

"We’re very grateful to all the clubs who already help throughout the year and hope that when others see examples of what it can lead to like Stegota they’ll give it a go too because it is very easy to make a real difference. All they need to do is contact the charity and our regional volunteers do the rest, including collecting donations of kit or any club equipment people think is going to waste."

For more information on KitAid visit: www.kitaid.net and on Stegota FC:
www.stegotafc.com.