All great English football teams inspire fans of the sport across the world – to the extent where these global fans create their own similar team due to historic links or just purely in tribute.
There’s an Arsenal FC in Argentina, a Liverpool FC in Uruguay.
But, for League Two side Bromley FC, they have an unexpected association with the Kenyan side Soweto Bromley FC (or in full Bromley United Soweto FC) which recently came to light after the amateur club was spotted in a social media series from kit manufacturers JerseyBird.
Soweto Bromley FC are located in the large Kibera slum within the Kenyan capital Nairobi – the largest East African city with a population of approximately 5.7 million people.
They play in the FKF Nairobi East Regional League Zone B, or simply the Kenyan fourth division, and this season they currently sit in eighth out of the 18 teams having accumulated six points from their opening five games. (2W 0D 3L)
The league doesn’t follow the traditional English football schedule and instead starts in November and finishes in May as surfaces would be too dry and unplayable during the summer and early autumn months.
Soweto Bromley FC also don’t follow the traditional black and white colours of the Ravens either but rather play in a dark blue Puma kit with white detailing, which resembles closest to Bromley’s 2021/22 third kit.
Although there is no official connection between the professional English club Bromley FC and the Kenyan amateur team, the clearest way that the two teams could be connected is due to their similar footballing circumstances: Both teams are based in the South-East of their respective capital cities.
Meanwhile, both outfits are smaller sized in comparison to their cities’ many top division clubs.
As well as this, both sides operate in the fourth division of their country’s football pyramid.
The link may have also stemmed from the widespread work of football kit charities.
In particular, English charities such as Kit4Kenya, KitAid and Kits4Causes who have the aim of “recycling sports kit and sending it to those less fortunate than ourselves in Africa”.
Therefore it could be likely that despite not being a direct donation from the club, a batch of Bromley kits have made their way to the Kibera slum and has ultimately formed the side.
Nevertheless, whether it has been caused by the possibilities above or not, the story of Soweto Bromley FC epitomizes the beauty of football in how it can connect fans from all over the world.
