Category: News

WE WIN OUR 4th PROMOTION IN 9yrs

ON SATURDAY 6th NOVEMBER 2021 WE GAINED OUR 4th PROMOTION IN 9YRS.

AFTER WINNING OUR OWN DIVISION 2 POOL “A”, WE MADE THE 10hr JOURNEY TO SIAYA COUNTY, TO FACE THE OTHER 3 DIVISION 2 POOL WINNERS FROM POOLS “B”, “C” and “D” IN THE PLAY-OFF FINALS.

AFTER BEATING RUSINGA FC 1-0 IN THE SEMI-FINAL, WE THEN FACED KOBARE UTD IN THE FINAL JUST 1 HOUR LATER, AFTER THEY HAD A 3 HOUR REST, FROM THEIR SEMI-FINAL VICTORY, BUT WE OVERCAME THE ODDS TO BEAT KOBARE UTD 2-1, AND BE CROWNED OVERALL DIVISION 2 CHAMPIONS.

 

 

THE FOUNDATION OF LIGHT UK

A HUGE THANK YOU TO THE FOUNDATION OF LIGHT.
On Friday 20th Nov. 2020 our UK president Gary Lamb was invited to the BEACON OF LIGHT, (Next door to the STADIUM OF LIGHT in the UK) to meet with academy coach IAN DIPPER.
Ian gave Gary the wonderful news that the FOUNDATION OF LIGHT were running a initiative, to invite all of SAFC’s academy players, including their ladies teams, to donate their 2nd hand boots, trainers, and old kit items to our club.
On top of that; The academy are donating a full set of their old Adidas kits, which have no sponsors logo’s on them.
We as a club we shall get the FOUNDATION OF LIGHT logo emblazoned across the front of the shirts, so we can proudly show our gratitude to them.
On the top rear of these shirts we will have the logo of our Home kit sponsors TOTAL SPORT-NE.
You will see from the attached pictures, that the FOUNDATION OF LIGHT have placed a blue bin, within the BEACON OF LIGHT building, for academy players to drop in their donated items.
On behalf of everyone at SAFC KEROCHE (Kenya) we would like to express our gratitude to everyone at the FOUNDATION OF LIGHT, (Including all members of the FoL management team) for giving our club and academy, such a wonderful early Xmas present.
We also admire the wonderful work done by the FOUNDATION OF LIGHT, who support many great initiatives, all around the world, and we feel blessed for their support.
MUNGU AWABARIKI
(God bless you all)
 
 
Below are the Senior Academy wearing their FOUNDATION OF LIGHT kits

PARTNERSHIP WITH THE BRADLEY LOWERY FOUNDATION

#WEARINGITFORBRADLEY
SUNDERLAND AFC KEROCHE (Kenya) ARE PRIVILEGED, PROUD AND SO HAPPY TO ANNOUNCE OUR NEW PARTNERSHIP WITH THE BRADLEY LOWERY FOUNDATION IN THE UK.
On Friday 5th April 2020 our UK president Gary Lamb and Vice president John Eilbeck had a meeting with LYNN MURPHY, the head of communications and fundraising at the BRADLEY LOWERY FOUNDATION and we are so pleased to announce our new partnership, which will hashtag under the logo of
#WEARINGITFORBRADLEY
In the partnership LYNN shall become an admin on our teams Facebook page, to help us with her marketing skills, and our Vice President John Eilbeck has offered to do voluntary work at the Bradley Lowery Foundation.
How will this work ?
Both organisations will benefit from the partnership, in the following ways.
Sunderland AFC Keroche (Kenya) have a total of 130 children in our academy in 5 different categories
(a) Junior Academy
(b) Under 13’s Academy
(c) Under 15’s Academy
(d) Under 17’s Academy                                                                                                                         (e) Senior Academy                                                                                                                             plus 30 players in our 1st team squad
Our aim is for all our academy children to wear the BRADLEY LOWERY SHIRT in memory of their little hero.
(During our last visit to Kenya, all the children, were told Bradleys inspirational story, and are aware how much it means to wear his shirt)
And our 1st team shall wear Bradleys shirt in any cup competition
We currently have a total of 43 Bradley shirts between our children’s and Junior academies, and are hoping our UK fans can donate more shirts, so that all our academy kids can wear them, but also our 1st team wear them in any Cup Competition.
This is how you can do it:
If you click on the following link, to the Bradley Lowery Foundation website shop, you can purchase any size shirt for only £10, either with or without the Dafabet Logo
https://bradleyloweryfoundation.com/shop/
The Bradley Lowery Foundation shall benefit from the sales of the shirts, then when you fill in the address to send the shirt, Simply put in the following;
SAFC KEROCHE
c/o Mr. John Eilbeck,
“CASTLEDENE”
Dene Rd.
Seaham,
Co. Durham.
SR7 8QW
our club and academy will then benefit from the shirts
We are hoping to get the following shirts
age 7-8yrs 10 shirts (now fulfilled) THANK YOU
age 9-10yrs 10 shirts (now fulfilled) THANK YOU
age 11-12yrs 5 shirts (now fulfilled) THANK YOU

But we still require the following:
Size Small 25 shirts (with Dafabet logo)
Size Medium 25 shirts (with Dafabet logo)
Large 15 shirts (with Dafabet logo)
Please Note:
If we able to get over and above our intended target, we shall give away any excess shirts to our fans, who could never afford to own their own shirt. Because a football shirt in Kenya is the equivalent of 2 months wages (To those who are lucky enough to have a job)
(So we’ll be painting the whole of our region, RED & WHITE)
So if you would like to help both organisations for only £10, we would be eternally grateful.
We would like to thank the BRADLEY LOWERY FOUNDATION, for this wonderful gesture, and hope we have a wonderful future partnership.
On behalf of both parties, we ask if you can help for only £10, please just follow the above instructions
THANK YOU IN ADVANCE TO ANYONE WHO DONATES
#WEARINGITFORBRADLEY

HOW TO DONATE

Can you help to keep our club alive ?

Our club and academy can only survive and thrive, through either sponsorships, donations or contributions from Sunderland fans or football fans worldwide.

All donations are gratefully received, and go towards the future progression of Sunderland AFC Keroche and our academy.

NOT ALL DONATIONS NEED TO BE FINANCIAL:- We are always on the lookout for any type of football related items such as good 2nd hand kits, footballs, 2nd hand Sunderland shirts (both kids and adults) but most importantly good 2nd hand football boots of all sizes especially adult sizes 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10, as due to the hard surfaces of Kenyan pitches along with our players training 4 days a week, each 1st team player goes through 3 pairs per season. If you can help in any way please contact our UK President GARY LAMB, from Seaham, UK on UK tel. number;- 07880732078

HOW DO WE USE YOUR DONATIONS?
ALL SPONSORSHIP MONEY/DONATIONS/CONTRIBUTIONS GO INTO A CENTRAL POOL, TO COVER THE BASIC COSTS OF RUNNING THE ACADEMY AND 1st TEAM.

BY DOING THIS, IT MEANS THE ACADEMY PLAYERS, WHO ARE UNFORTUNATELY NOT SPONSORED, STILL BENEFIT AND WE CAN IMPROVE THEIR TALENTS, AND CREATE “EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES” FOR ALL OUR PLAYERS.

THIS MONEY IS HELD IN A UK BANK ACCOUNT, AND SENT TO THE TEAM VIA POST OFFICE “MONEYGRAM” TRANSACTIONS, AS AND WHEN REQUIRED.

MAIN EXPENSES INCLUDE;-
LEAGUE REGISTRATION FEES (35,000ksh per season)
PLAYERS REGISTRATION FEES (300ksh per player, per season)
PLAYERS REGISTRATION CARDS (Which must be shown to match officials at all games)
REFEREES FEES (7,500ksh per game, both home & away in Div. 1)
SECURITY FEES AT HOME GAMES (All teams must supply a minimum of 2 uniformed and armed, security personnel at all home games, @ 2,000ksh per guard)
TRAVEL EXPENSES TO AWAY GAMES (This is our biggest outlay during the season, now that we are competing in National division 1, a lot of our away games means we must leave the day before, as some journeys are up to 15hrs each way)
PRINTING COSTS (Of FKF official paperwork, registrations, training schedules etc)
ENTRY FEES TO CUP TOURNAMENTS (Varies depending on the tournament)
STOCKING OF FIRST AID KIT (A league requirement)
REPAIRS TO BALLS (150ksh per ball = approx. £1.20p. EXAMPLE; due to the conditions of Kenyan pitches, we average 6 repairs per week)
REPLACEMENT KIT, (But only If urgently required, and the required items have not been donated, this is mainly boots)

ETC. ETC.

PLEASE NOTE;
No player, coach or official within the SUNDERLAND AFC KEROCHE organisation receives any form of payment, except one of our players who has no job, cleans all our kit, he receives 500ksh per week = approx £3.50p per week. On some weeks, he might wash 3 full sets of kit, if any our academy age groups also have games.

Every penny donated goes to our club and academy.

All monies raised go into the future progression of the Sunderland AFC Keroche 1st team, and our academy.

If you have any questions,
Please feel free to ask by calling our UK president Gary Lamb on UK mobile; +44 (0) 7880732078. Or email: garysafclamb@hotmail.com

Any sponsorship/donations/contributions can be made in the following ways;

By bank transfer: For details contact Gary Lamb on UK mobile: +44 (0) 7880732078

By Cheque;
Cheques made payable to; SAFC KEROCHE
C/O Gary Lamb,
2, Shakespeare Street,
SEAHAM,
Co. Durham.
SR7 7JB

By PayPal to:  garysafclamb@hotmail.com
Receipts can be provided if requested.

PROMOTED AGAIN (3 times in 6yrs)

Posted November 2018.

On Sunday 25th November 2018, we travelled to the Afraha Stadium in Nakuru to participate in the promotion play-off finals

Our 1st semi-final game kicked off at 11am against SOCIETY43 FC. After 17mins we were leading 2-0 with a brace from OKEKE, but SOCIETY43 pulled a goal back from a penalty, then equalised 5 mins later to make it 2-2, but on the stroke of half-time OKEKE completed his hat-trick to give us a 3-2 half-time lead.

2mins into the 2nd half SOCIETY43 scored again to level it to 3-3, which was the full-time score. So, we went to penalties, both teams missed 1 each in the allocated 5 penalties to make it 4-4, so now we went to sudden death with SOCIETY43 kicking 1st, we both scored the next 4, to make it 8-8, then SOCIETY43 missed, and up stepped Capt. Jose to slam home the winning penalty. The celebrations afterwards between the players and fans were simply amazing.

_____________________________________________________________________

While our game was in progress WEST STARS FC and RONGAII FC were playing each other in the other semi-final which WEST STARS won 1-0. So we would play WEST STARS in the final.

Both finalists were given only 1hr rest before the final.

_____________________________________________________________________

In the final WEST STARS took a 1-0 lead in the 20th minute, which is how it stayed until injury time, when Capt Jose received the ball beat 2 defenders and almost burst the net to level at 1-1 with the last kick of the game.

Once again we went to penalties. Both teams scored the first 4, then WEST STARS missed the 5th and it was left to KINYANJUI MBURU (A young product of our academy) to step up and calmly smash home the winner to win 5-4, and give us a 3rd Promotion in 6yrs.

Here are some pictures From the day

 

 

 

READ JACKS AMAZING STORY

Friday the 13th is a day that gets a bad press amongst the superstitious people in the world, in truth I’m not a fan of it myself. Yet Friday the 13th of July 2018 is a day that will live long in my memory and for all of the right reasons. This was the day I got to spend with the second Sunderland AFC, Sunderland AFC Keroche to be precise – and what a day it was.
For anyone who may not know, Sunderland AFC Keroche are a community football team from the town of Naivasha in central Kenya, about 2 hours, or 60 miles north-west of the capital Nairobi.

As a Sunderland lad and Sunderland fan I first became aware of SAFC Keroche 4 or 5 years ago and at the time thought it was great that a team in Kenya were using our name and colours.
It wasn’t for a few years though that I started taking more of a keen interest in the team, this was because me and my girlfriend, Elisha, had booked a safari to Kenya and one of the destinations that we were due to stay at was Lake Naivasha – as you can guess, a large lake just beside the town of Naivasha.

When I found out that we were going to be staying so close to the team I decided that I would like to help, I contacted the Facebook page of SAFC Keroche and made them aware that I was visiting the area and wanted to help in any way I could, such as donating spare boots, balls, bibs or anything that may help. Straight away I was put in touch with UK President of SAFC Keroche, Gary Lamb, who I informed of my impending visit and willingness to help the club. Gary was great and straight away wanted to tell me all about the club and how much of an amazing set of lads they had, I could tell he was really passionate about the club. Gary informed me that he had a loft full of equipment such as balls, boots and socks amongst others which needed taking over for the lads if I was willing to help with that, of course this was something that I was more than happy to do.

In the mean time I had spoken to Chris Waters at SAFC in England who had kindly sorted me out with some balls from the club to take over with me too and with the help of my friends and family I had also managed to collect lots of boots, training bibs and goalkeeper gloves too. In the end, myself and Gary sat down and packed 2 whole suitcases full of much needed equipment for myself and Elisha to take over to Kenya. Gary told me that to show their appreciation the lads wanted to see me and show me around the town when I was there and the club captain, Jose, who I had already became acquainted with on Facebook, had even went as far as arranging a friendly game so Elisha and I could get to see the lads playing.
I arrived in Kenya and started my safari for a few days before the Friday arrived. Friday came, the day I was due to meet with the lads to hand over the equipment, club captain Jose picked us up from our lodge along with club photographer Kaka and began to show us around the town. He gave us the guided tour showing us a normal day in the life of Naivasha, during the day between all the sights he would fill me in more about the history of the club and the work that they do within the community.

He went on to tell me how the name Keroche comes from the local brewery which is called the Keroche breweries and that is where the club gets the name from. Jose told me that as the brewery was so close by that the low alcohol prices was causing the youth to start abusing alcohol which sometimes led to other substance abuse and even gun crime, and the idea behind the club was to keep the youth of the local area away from the streets. They wanted to better their community and give the children of the area a better future and something positive to focus on.

Jose has been at the club since day one and is still to this day the captain of the club, you could see he was passionate about the club and all the players and academy children in it. He took us to the local school where they play all of their home games, the school even sports a “Stadium of Light” sign at the entrance. (see picture)

When we arrived all of the children were so happy to see us, it was really special to be able to see and spend some time with some of the children from the local community who can and will be affected positively by the SAFC Keroche project. They were all so friendly and welcoming, such happy children to be around, even greeting us in English, asking “how are you?” and shaking our hands. It was so amusing to watch the children touching Elisha’s blonde hair. Some of the children played football with a makeshift ball made out of what looked like polystyrene and string.

After we had left the school Jose showed us a couple of local beauty spots and we continued into the town centre to sample some of the local cuisine. We ate “Nyama Choma” (roasted meat, Goat to be precise) and “Ugali” (Maize Corn, which I guess you can compare to the Kenyan equivalent to Palenta) which were both things which we had never had before.


Once we had eaten it was then time to start making our way to the pitch which was about 15 minutes’ drive away from the centre of town. As we were driving though the town we started to see the red and white shirts making their way to the local post office which is the meeting point for the team for all away games.

A little later, Elisha, Jose, Kaka and I arrived at Nini Farm which is the home pitch of SAFC Keroche’s rivals for the friendly, FC105. The rest of the lads arrived shortly after us, there was a buzz around the area and all of the players were as happy to see us as we were to see them. Just before kick-off I had the honour of presenting James Okeke, or “Lethal Weapon” as they like to call him, his top goal scorer trophy from 2014.

 

It was a moment he had been waiting four years for and he was so happy to receive the trophy, I was very happy to be a part of that. He has been the top goal scorer for the last 4 seasons in a row and I am reliably informed by captain Jose that he is SAFC Keroche’s leading goal scorer of all time, so it really was amazing to be able to share that moment with him and the rest of the team. Okeke then told me that he would have something for me later.
The teams warmed up and the game was underway and sure enough, within 5 or 10 minutes Okeke scored a great looping header over the goalkeeper and under the bar after a cross from the right wing. He ran all the way over to me from the opposite end of the pitch, like Adebayor vs Arsenal but only this time in a happy way, he shuck my hand gave me a hug and said “see, I told you, that was for you.” The game restarted and FC105 were in front by half time. After a few half time changes and second half goals from Okeke and captain Jose, FC105 somehow managed to withstand the SAFC Keroche barrage and held out for a 4-3 with their goalkeeper even saving a last minute penalty in the process. I have since been informed that I had been invited to take the late penalty which was such a fantastic gesture but the opposition players would not allow it. Jose told me that Okeke was disappointed as he wanted to score a hat-trick for us, but only managed to score 2.
After the home team left the pitch, Jose gathered all of the lads together as he wanted to organise for us to officially hand over the cases to the team. All of the lads gathered around in a semi-circle as we presented them with the cases of equipment.

 

They were all full of gratitude and couldn’t thank us enough, shaking our hands and asking for photographs before they left.

(we became part of the SAFC KEROCHE family)

It was great to see a group of people so grateful and for something so small to us to mean so much to them. After the photos and the gratitude the lads started to disperse and we shorty made our way back to our lodge with Jose and Kaka, who dropped us off so we could continue our Kenyan adventure the next day.
I haven’t seen any of the lads in person since, though I sincerely hope to be back one day (maybe for a little longer this time) but a lot of the lads are friends with me on Facebook which I am happy about because it means I get to keep up with the lads. I can now say I have a small group of friends from a small town in Africa – which most average Mackems probably can’t even pronounce. As well as this, there is also a second Sunderland AFC in my life and from now on there always will be.
I have spoken to Gary about my blog and asked him if he wanted to contribute anything towards it and all he wanted to do is to raise awareness and encourage anyone to view the YouTube documentary and follow the Facebook page. The team and academy are always looking for donations of SAFC shirts, boots and other equipment and even have club and player sponsorships available. Anyone who is able to help in the smallest way possible, we are very grateful.

Gary and John (who both feature in the documentary) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JzcV1Z6TDy4) are travel to Naivasha every 2yrs to take over a lot more equipment and spend some more time with the lads. Items they need more than anything else are GOOD SECOND HAND FOOTBALL BOOTS sizes adult sizes 6 -10, so if you have any lying in your cupboards, why not donate them to this wonderful cause.
After seeing this project first hand, Elisha and I were amazed by how much it makes a difference to the local community, and to see all the players and academy children wearing our beloved Sunderland shirts, will live in our memories forever.
I hope our story will encourage more Sunderland fans to get involved, by helping in anyway you can.
If anybody would like to help, donate or simply raise awareness then contact SAFC Keroche on Facebook or speak directly to their UK President, Gary Lamb for ways to help. Tel; 07880732078

If any of our UK fans would like to donate in anyway, regardless of the amount, you can make a donation to the teams UK account in any of the following:

1, By bank transfer: For details contact Gary Lamb, on UK mobile +44 (0) 7880732078

2, By Cheque: Made payable to SAFC KEROCHE, To: Gary Lamb, 2, Shakespeare Street, SEAHAM, Co. Durham, SR7 7JB

3, Via PayPal: to garysafclamb@hotmail.com

Or, you could do, as Elisha and I do every year, by sponsoring a player each for only £50 per player each season. Just contact Gary for details.

 

When you first get to hear about a story like SUNDERLAND AFC KEROCHE you become curious, but to see it all first hand during our Safari holiday, was truely amazing.

Thank you for reading my blog.

Jack Reay and Elisha Maley, Sunderland, UK.

Watch our fantastic documentary

In 2013 David Kenny, Kevin Clift and Matt Ward for their dissertation at Sunderland University embarked on a journey to Karai, Kenya. The reason? To share the story, of how two different communities were brought together because of the love for football.

Keroche was made possible by the generosity of people all around the globe who backed them on Kickstarter.

Since this film was made in 2013, the club have gone on to win a total of 32 cup competitions, between the 1st team and academy. The 1st team have also gained 4 promotions and are currently playing in the Kenyan National Division 1.

All of these achievements have only been possible through the kind generosity of Sunderland fans worldwide, who have sponsored and given donations, and also donated numerous items of kit.

We thank each and everyone of you for your wonderful support.

JUST CLICK ON THE DOCUMENTARY LINK ABOVE, TO WATCH OUR AMAZING DOCUMENTARY WHICH IS ON YOUTUBE. (23mins long)

Who Are Sunderland AFC Keroche?

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.