First Time in Paradise

 

First Time in Paradise

A good friend who is a high school teacher, told me recently about one of her students who arrived in the UK as an asylum seeker in 2020. The teenager had arrived at Dover with three other children following a dangerous cross-channel journey from France. This followed an epic journey from Sudan to reach Europe in the first place. As an unaccompanied asylum-seeker, he was settled in Scotland and arrived here just as winter was setting in. He must have felt very far from home in the gloom of a Scottish winter.

My friend described him a hard-working, positive and resilient lad, who is an excellent footballer and these qualities have helped him adjust to life in a new country and make new friends. He became very fond of Celtic Football Club and watching them avidly on tv. He told her it was his dream to one day see them play at Celtic Park. Today that dream becomes a reality when the teenager who risked his life crossing the channel will join 60,000 other Celtic fans watching the Hoops take on St Johnstone. When the game is over, I’m certain Celtic will have one more lifelong fan following them.

His trip to see Celtic was facilitated by the excellent people of the Kano Foundation who have now arranged for over 12,000 youngsters to see Celtic play for free. In an era where the poor behaviour of some of those who attach themselves to football grabs all the headlines, organisations like the Kano Foundation quietly do wonderful things. It’s worth recounting the roots of this charity and the role it has played in bringing so many deserving youngsters to  watch professional football when they might not have otherwise managed it. Their own website describes the charity’s origins in the following way…

‘The KANO Foundation took inspiration from the highly successful “Bringing Martin Home” fundraising effort that was undertaken by the Celtic support. Overnight in 2008, Martin Kane, a Glasgow Celt living in Australia, was struck down by a rare neurological condition called Devic’s Syndrome.  The condition is an extreme form of multiple sclerosis and causes the immune system to attack the protective material that covers the nerves.

‘Martin, known as “Kano” to his friends, was a regular contributor to the Celtic Quick News forum. When other members of the forum found out about his situation they quickly kicked off a fundraising effort to raise £60,000 to pay for modifications to his house to get him home for Christmas with his family, after spending a year in hospital. One fundraising event was a bucket collection outside Celtic Park on a match-day. The overall campaign exceeded the target and it was decided to use some of the extra money to take a group of children, who had volunteered at the bucket collection, to a match at Celtic Park. The idea for The KANO Foundation was born.’

The Kano Foundation uses money raised by Celtic supporters and local businesses to purchase season tickets which they use to gain entry to the stadium for groups of children they are working with on a given match day. They currently have 186 season tickets and their usually boisterous group is easy to spot on match days in the lower Lisbon Lions stand. Their patrons include Tom Boyd, Henrik Larsson, John Higgins and Scott Brown.

Following the sad passing of Martin ‘Kano’ Kane in 2015, his comrades kept his spirit alive in the foundation which bears his nickname. They have impacted positively on the lives of literally thousands of children who saw their first Celtic match thanks to the Foundation. In doing so they have undoubtedly won some new fans for Celtic but the principles for which they stand are bigger than that. It's about free football for children regardless of background or circumstance. Many of us enjoyed that privilege in the days when lifting kids over the turnstile was the done thing. It’s about teaching them about being sporting and respectful of others and introducing them to the fun and exhilaration you can experience watching professional football.

So as Paradise roars out its backing for the Bhoys today, think of that teenager from far off Sudan who will be experiencing it all for the first time. His eyes will be full of that wonder we all had as kids when we first experienced a game at Celtic Park. He’ll look around him and breath in sights and sounds that will live with him forever.

You may be in a new land, young fella, but you will most certainly never walk alone. I hope you have a great time and you come back to Celtic Park many times. Welcome to Paradise.

 

Should you wish to learn more about the work of the Kano Foundation or donate to this excellent charity, please click the link below.

Click here for... Kano Foundation