Ethiopian school team wears Ben's designer kit!
7:10am Thursday 19th February 2009 in News By Saiqa Chaudhari
YOUNG footballers in Ethiopia will be playing the rest of their season in style after taking delivery of a new kit — designed by a Bolton schoolboy.
Ben Greenough, aged 11, designed the eye-catching strip for a competition run by The Bolton News for the Score Ethiopia campaign, a partnership between shampoo Wash & Go and educational charity Link Ethiopia.
The competition encouraged primary school children to come up with their most imaginative designs, with the winning kit manufactured and handed over to a school in Ethiopia.
Ben’s winning design, produced while he was St John’s CE Primary in Kearsley, was made into the kit and presented to him by campaign ambassador, the former Liverpool and England footballer John Barnes, at a school ceremony.
Now Ben’s football strip is being worn by pupils from Abiyot Frei Ele School in Lalibela, Ethiopia, almost 4,000 miles away.
Ben, who now attends Harper Green School in Farnworth, designed the kits using colours from the Ethiopian flag.
He said: “I really enjoyed doing the designing and doing something to help a country 4,000 miles away. It is very exciting that my kit design is being worn in Ethiopia.”
John Barnes said: “It is fantastic to see the schools in both countries building bridges and learning about each other’s cultures using football as the common language.
“The kit that Ben designed will make a massive difference to these children who have never even had a team strip before.
“I would have loved to have kit designs like this in my playing days.”
Children from across Bolton entered the competition, including around 80 pupils from St John’s, but it was Ben’s design which won over readers of The Bolton News, who were the judges. Three kit designs were up for the final selection.
l The names of all those who voted for the winning design have been entered into a prize draw for a 42in LCD TV.
