Town shirts will soon be a common sight on the streets of Hamrin in Iraq thanks to supporter Mark Stoneman. Mark, who is in the US Army, is urging fellow fans to join ITFC in giving their old kit to football-loving Iraqi children.
Mark, who moved to the States in the late eighties, has been a Town fan since he was 12 years old and still gets to a few games each season. He says that football is a major part of life in Hamrin: "We get along well with the people and try to help them out as much as we can. We've fixed schools and are running clean drinking water to every house, something they've never had before.
"One of the common bonds I have with the people here is a love of football. Poverty and unemployment are overwhelming and the only recreation most kids and young men have is the local football league, but they have little or no equipment.
"We have bought them footballs and built them another pitch in addition to the one they had, which is under water half the year (it was conveniently built on the shore of a lake), but they lack boots and strips.
"The shirts they do have are very old and imprinted with "A Gift from Saddam Hussein" on the front, as a sort of sponsor. Seeing as these are the only shirts they have they wear them, but only inside-out so as not to display Saddam's name."
Mark asked TWTD if we would hold a kit collection at a home game and see if the club would get involved. Town have agreed to send out 30 old home shirts, 50 away kits, out of date benchwear and other discontinued clothing.
TWTD and the Supporters' Trust will be collecting kit at the usual TWTD stall by the statue of Sir Alf Ramsey prior to Saturday's game with Wolves. Alternatively, post kit to TWTD at PO Box 87, Ipswich, IP4 2QE. The cost of transporting the kit to Iraq has been met by Trust chairman Carl Day's company, Seawing Landguard.
The Hamrin Branch of the ITFC Supporters' Club
Mark says all kit is usable, no matter what state it is in: "If anybody has an old Ipswich replica jersey or strip (or any training gear for that matter), old boots or trainers, anything football-related, I'd like to ask them to send it to me here in Iraq and I'll give it to my friends in Hamrin. It really doesn't matter what condition it's in, it'll be better than what they have, trust me."