IT may be thousands of miles away, but football fanatics in a remote South African village have good reason to know the name of Kelbrook.

For it's thanks to Kelbrook man Richard Wilson that Riverside United, the village football team in Sekhukhuniland, in the Northern Province of South Africa, is the best kitted out team for miles around.

And soon the team will all have new football boots, bought with money raised in Kelbrook.

The story goes back to 1996, when Airton man David Humphreys appealed through the Craven Herald to the area's many football clubs. David's son Alastair had been working as a teaching assistant in Sekhukhuniland and had joined the local football team.

Its members loved the game but had virtually no kit, so David appealed to Craven teams for help.

It was Richard, of Dotcliffe Road, who answered the call. He was a founder of Kelbrook Football Club and knew it had a spare kit.

And so it was that Riverside United, in the Nebo District of South Africa's Northern Province, came to be proudly sporting the colours of Burnley FC in its games.

The team wrote to Richard expressing their thanks, and they have stayed in contact ever since.

With the help of his girlfriend, Lorna Brown, Richard has organised a number of fundraising events and last year was able to send a second kit, this time in the colours of Inter Milan! Now, with the proceeds of a car boot sale, he has bought 23 pairs of football boots to help his African friends win more games. He got an excellent discount from Sports Shoes Unlimited, in Bradford, run by ex-Bradford City player Bruce Bannister.

In July, there will be another car boot sale on Kelbrook's Church Meadow with some of the proceeds going to help Riverside United and the rest to the West Craven Warriors junior rugby league team.

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