An Interview from a number of years ago with Club President Gary Lamb that chronicles
the beginning of the club!
You can also enjoy our documentary, at the following link;
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JzcV1Z6TDy4
WHO ARE SUNDERLAND AFC KEROCHE & HOW DID THEY BECOME TO EXIST ? HERE IS OUR STORY
SUNDERLAND AFC KEROCHE ARE A FOOTBALL TEAM & ACADEMY IN THE KENYA, WE RELY SOLELY UPON SPONSORSHIP/DONATIONS/CONTRIBUTIONS FROM SUNDERLAND FANS WORLDWIDE.
Sunderland AFC Keroche, began in the village of Karai, on the outskirts of the town of Naivasha, Kenya in 2012. Karai village is a very poor area, where only 1 in 28 of the adults have a full-time job,
It all began as a way of trying to give the youth of the area a focus in life, to keep them away from life’s darker temptations such as drugs, crime and alcohol etc.
It started quite simply as a group of football loving young men forming a football team, but they had no kit, no boots, and no pitch, but they give themselves the name of Sunderland AFC Keroche for 2 reasons;- (1) The then manager elect was a Sunderland fan, (2) The village sits in the shadow of the huge KEROCHE BREWERY (Kenya’s second largest brewery)
The boys played friendly games against other local villages, but soon realised that they were quite a good team, as they were winning all the games (Even though they were playing in bare feet, on pitches in other villages) So they approached the local village school and asked if they could use their spare land to play games, and erected 2 goals made from tree branches.
One day the then manager “Paul Kimani” approached a Sunderland fan in England called Gary Lamb (Via facebook) to ask if their was a possibility of trying to donate kits and boots etc. After checking out the team and satisfied everything was genuine, Gary put out an appeal for Sunderland shirts, plus boots, shorts and socks etc. and was overwhelmed by the response, (Where to date 2 x 40ft containers of kit have been shipped over) but not only items for the football team, these containers also included donated items such as clothing, bedding, children’s toys, bikes, school books, pens, pencils, toothbrushes & toothpaste, and much more, So SUNDERLAND AFC KEROCHE, the school and their village of Karai, became a whole new place.
Village elder Joseph Muchina, has told us that since the project started, that crime in the village area has dropped by over 70% , because all the young children and youths are now attending football training 4 evenings a week.
Since the SUNDERLAND AFC KEROCHE project started in 2012, we have achieved the following through donations and sponsorship from Sunderland fans, mainly in the UK
1, The school pitch has been levelled, and seeded to become one of the best pitches in the area.
2, New full size metals goalposts have been fitted.
3, Home and away dugouts have been erected.
4, The first team have had 2 promotions, won 11 cup competitions, and been runners-up in many other cups. (They are currently pushing for a 3rd promotion, to the Kenyan National Division 2)
5, We now have a thriving academy, attended by over 100 kids.
6, We have installed a full fresh water supply to the school, giving the 900+ pupils fresh clean water for the first time ever. (We class this as one of our biggest achievements to date)
7, So far 27 senior academy kids have progressed into the 1st team squad.
8, Five first team players have progressed to Kenyan premier league teams, and now make a living through football.
9, One small corner of Kenya has become red & White crazy.
10, We are now one of the most respected teams in Kenya.
Above are just a small proportion of our achiements, to find out more, see below.
NB: YOU CAN READ OUR FULLY UPATED STORY AT THIS LINK ON OUR WEBSITE http://safckeroche.com/about-us/ THIS LINK IS UPDATED ON A WEEKLY BASIS, AND FEATURES MUCH MORE INFORMATION, DETAILING OUR COMPLETE STORY FROM DAY 1.