Salford Victoria FC, which plays in the Lancashire and Cheshire Amateur Football League and is based at the Sports Village on Littleton Road, has set up a scheme to send the team's old kits to amateur teams playing in Africa.
The idea was floated by Chris Lee, who will be managing one of Salford's teams in 2021, but was previously coach at Swinton where one of his players, Monday Ozoya, was born in Nigeria and had strong links to back home.
So far, Victoria has sent the kits they have played in for the last two seasons to Africa, and are trying to get other teams involved in the charitable donation, with AFC Oldham showing interest in getting involved.
The kits, says Salford Victoria Chairman, Chris Carney, are "open age and unique, and we are thankful to our manufacturer, MG Sportswear for providing them." In order to ensure there are no costs to the recipients, the club deal with all aspects of the finances relating to shipping the shirts across to Africa.
"The club collect the kits, box them up and send them over" says Chris "We pay for it, and it's worth it because as well as helping others, it helps us to get the club's name known far and wide. I've had people contact me from countries including Nigeria and Ghana."
Before the coronavirus crisis, Salford Victoria were sixth in the top tier of the Lancashire and Cheshire Amateur Football League, while the second team were fifth in Division Three, with a glimmer of hope of promotion.
The club expect to field two more teams in the League once the amateur game is back up and running, and have 87 players signed on to play. Meanwhile, in Africa, Salford Victoria's kits are making a difference...
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