Football charity encourages Scots to donate old kits to help vulnerable people

Scottish Sun

28-04-2025

A FOOTBALL charity hopes fans get a kick out of their new scheme – selling retro kits to help bring vulnerable people into the beautiful game.
Street Soccer yesterday announced the launch of Kitback, a new project taking advantage of the popularity of old strips to raise much-needed funds.
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David Duke MBE founded Street Soccer Scotland 16 years ago.
Credit: Andrew Barr
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It's hoped the scheme will help thousands of people.
Credit: Andrew Barr
People can donate their pre-loved shirts at dedicated drop-off points or by post which will then be upcycled and sold with one kit supporting a for a whole month.
Founder David Duke launched the charity 16 years ago after living in shelters and has since helped more than 25,000 folk going through their own struggles, such as addiction, homelessness, mental health and poverty.
The charity boss, 45, said: 'We're currently in an environment where there's funding cuts at various levels and when you try to align the demand on your services with funding cuts, it doesn't really work.
'For us, rather than standing still and reducing services, it was about how we could be a wee bit more proactive to raise funds. Every time we get a shirt donated, that effectively allows somebody to come to Street Soccer for a month.
'When someone donates a kit or buys a kit, it unlocks an opportunity. The key thing for us is to make it affordable and all the money and every bit of profit goes towards supporting Street Soccer.'
The initiative has already been backed by football clubs and businesses all over the UK.
Fulham FC Foundation has become the first professional club to donate to Kitback with others set to follow suit in the coming weeks and months. Anyone who donates a kit is also added to the newsletter list so they can see the real impact of their kindness.
David said: 'At the Euros I must have bought about three or four different Scotland shirts but how often do I wear them? They're just sitting there.
'Rather than clogging up your space, they could do a lot of good if donated. Not everybody can afford to support charities with cash. We need to realise that the cost-of-living crisis is affecting everybody and that this is just as valuable.
'It can create a circular economy with zero waste too. There's going to be loads of accessible drop-off points. And again, the great thing about it when you drop it off is that we'll keep a note here.
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'We'll add you to the supporters' group so that every six months we'll produce an impact report saying how much donated kit we've received and how much money.
'It's about building a relationship with the people who actually give it to you. We just don't want to say thanks for that, see you later. We want to bring people on the journey and share what we're trying to do. Even just one football shirt being kept in play for nine months is a 30 per cent decrease in its carbon emission.
'It's a win for the people and it's a win for the planet. And it's not often you get the opportunity to achieve that.'
David hopes the project proves to be a major success and that it'll help support more people who need their help. He'd love for the issues facing folk to go away and for nobody to be struggling. But he's ready to fill the gap that other services aren't providing until then.
The website to buy retro shirts goes live next month and he is calling on people to get involved and make a difference. He said: 'Street Soccer was based on my own experience of how football can help you navigate through difficult times.
"I was a young person living in a homeless hostel in Glasgow and football was like a rope that pulled me out of a dark hole.
FOOTIE FREEDOM
BRIAN Pearson credits Street Scotland with helping him beat addiction and find hope through football.
The volunteer, 49, takes weekly training sessions for the charity after being put through his UEFA coaching badges.
He's now an integral part of the charity and works with players from the age of 16 up to pensioners – including his own son Ruari, 17, and dad Brian Sr, 68.
Brian, from Bellshill, North Lanarkshire, said: 'It's about working together to get the best out of everybody. It's not so much games, it's more just fun. Street Soccer is about supporting and promoting teamwork. You feel like you're part of a family.'
The coach, who had two spinal surgeries, added: 'I'm trying to get as far as I can with the walking stick. I don't have any feeling in my left leg. It's totally numb with the nerve damage and the pain can be phenomenal.
'But my purpose is to see the smile on my guys and lassies' faces on a Monday at the session. It's amazing and it sets you up for the rest of the week.'
'The bigger Street Soccer becomes, it shows that there's still things that need to be fixed in our society. Like making sure people have the opportunity to be part of something and have access to mental health services.
'We're plugging quite a lot of gaps so I think the ambition for Street Soccer - and it's been the same ever since day one - is that there's somebody out there who might be struggling, disconnected or cut off needing some sort of support service.
'But they maybe don't know how to access it because they're isolated. Our strategy is the same every day - there's somebody out there who needs our support and how do we find them?
'This new project is exciting. We're not just doing it because we think it's a good idea, we're doing it because we need to do something.
'There's people there who need support and this is an easy way for anyone to help. I think 99 per cent of society wants to make the world a better place, it's just about how we can help them do that.'
Follow Kitback on Instagram for more info.