Worcester Warriors and official club sponsor and community partner npower have teamed up with SOS/iRB Kit Aid to launch the first ever Sixways Kit Amnesty to support growing efforts of the international rugby charity.
Supporters are now invited to bring as many items of rugby kit and clothing - including boots - to Sixways Stadium on match day and then peg them onto one of the special npower washing lines available on site.
The kit will then be donated to developing rugby nations who share the same love of the game as we do.
Tom Ryder, Marketing & Community Manager at Warriors, said: "It is a really exciting project for us that will give fans an opportunity to clear out their wardrobes and donate their olds shirts to a great cause.
"Once again npower have stepped up the challenge of supporting a Warriors community partnership project. Now we want fans to take up the challenge and bring an old shirt, peg it on the line and then enjoy a big derby day atmosphere with the Warriors."
Carol Hart, Community Involvement Manager at npower added "The first ever Sixways Kit Amnesty is a fantastic way of developing junior rugby in less fortunate countries around the world. We are very proud to be supporting the event which will help make a real difference to thousands of children by providing sporting kit to enable them to play rugby."
SOS/iRB Kit Aid is about involvement, inclusivity, social integration, discipline and respect. Where people from all walks of life with a passion for rugby, can come together and participate, to make a difference to less advantaged young children's lives around the world and of course help the environment at the same time.
John Broadfoot from SOS/iRB Kit Aid said: "We hope all supporters will dig into their wardrobes, lofts and garages, and bring along all the shirts and boots that they no longer have use for.
"SOS, with the kind help of Worcester Warriors and npower, will send that very same kit to youngsters in poorer nations around the world and soon supporters will see photos of their kit being used to good effect."
Do something great on derby day - give your old kit for charity!
For more information visit www.sosirbkitaid.org
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Notes for Editors:
1. SOS/iRB Kit SOS Kit Aid was founded by John Broadfoot who saw for himself the plight of Romanian youngsters during a school rugby tour to Romania. The sight of a smiling Romanian eight year old boy running with the ball under one arm whilst he used the other to hold up his shorts made him want to do something about it.
From the experience of his own rugby playing sons he knew there were several pairs of boots and shirts lying around at home doing nothing. So to test out the potential John collected kit from just ten schools to see how much kit might be available on a wider scale. The test was an outstanding success both in terms of quantity and quality of kit donated and John persuaded the International Rugby Board to endorse and fund the project's expansion to 1000+ schools and Clubs.
Financial support and recognition was given to the project by the iRB (International Rugby Board) - the world's governing body for Rugby Union. Their funding helps to cover the cost of storage and the logistics of collecting and transporting kit to the countries that need it the most.The iRB have additionally provided endorsed by allowing us to use their branding in partnership with SOS, which significantly helps raise the profile of the project throughout the rugby community
2. RWE npower has been awarded the prestigious CommunityMark from Business in the Community (BITC). npower is the only utility business, amongst 21 other companies in the UK, to receive this accolade. The CommunityMark is a new BITC standard which has been created to recognise companies that are good investors in local communities and who have brought about real and positive changes.
