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Daily Record
Daily Record
National
Stuart Wilson

Kenyan schoolkids become Ayr United's newest fans

Schoolkids in Kenya are proudly sporting the Ayr United badge thanks to an Honest Man abroad.

Sergeant Chris Crate, who serves with the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards, is currently based in the African nation on his posting with the British Army Training Unit.

And the diehard United fan has decided to help spread the message of his beloved club by dishing out kit to Ayr's newest breed of supporter thousands of miles away.

Chris told the Ayrshire Post: "It's tough for the kids out here who don't have a lot. So I got in touch with Martin Tocker and Graeme Mathie at Ayr United to see what we could do in terms of getting some kit or training gear sent out for the young ones.

"They were fantastic and organised for 25 strips to be sent over along with training gear. The look on the kids' faces was amazing. It's hard for them to follow any kind of football over here and they only really know the likes of Man Utd and Man City.

"But I'm trying my best to fix that and now we have lots of them running around in Ayr gear! I've been telling them all about us finishing second in the Championship, so we'll definitely make fans out of them."

Pupils from three Kenyan schools have received a mix of strips from the United fans' team Kaisayr, along with old training kit from the first team.

Sgt Crate, 36, added: "It was a fantastic gesture by the club. We handed the strips out at two schools plus a girls' boarding school and the kids couldn't have been more thankful."

Pupils at Thingith Secondary, Ngeni Secondary and St Jude Nturukuma Girls Boarding School are now the proud owners of the the United gear.

Ayr commercial boss Martin Tocker said: "When Chris got in touch, we were only too happy to help in any way we could. It's fantastic to see the message of Ayr United spreading so far around the world and hopefully the kids get plenty of enjoyment and pride from wearing our badge."

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