The Newcastle fan kitting out Zambian footballers

The singing starts before the football does.

Dressed head-to-toe in black and white, 11 players move together in a rhythmic warm-up across a dusty football pitch in rural Zambia.

And when the players of the Mfuwe Mags walk out to play, there is little doubt which English football team has inspired their name.

Their Newcastle United shirts have been supplied by a Magpies fan living thousands of miles away in north-east England.

But the connection between Crispin Mason-Jones and this remote community has become about much more than football.

The Mags are now chasing promotion to Zambia's third tier – while Crispin's efforts have expanded to provide football kit to hundreds of school children across the area.

It is a long way from 2022, when the club was on the verge of financial collapse.

Crispin first heard about the team while his wife, Dr Ellie Bond, was working in Zambia.

The club was helping young people in the Mfuwe community but was struggling to afford basic equipment, including football boots and kit, as well as the cost of travelling to away matches.

Crispin, a big Newcastle fan, decided to help.

He raised sponsorship, adopted the club and helped provide equipment and funding.

The team became known as the Mfuwe Mags.

Four years later, the relationship is going from strength to strength.

Crispin, who has recently returned home from Newcastle after two months in Zambia, continues to provide the men's team with shirts, football boots and help with travelling costs.

The senior squad now has 25 players and the Mags are hoping to win promotion to Division One East, the third tier of Zambian football.

For Crispin, that is something he could not have imagined when he first became involved.

"When I first heard about the club, I just wanted to help keep it going. I never imagined that four years later I would still be involved – or that we would be talking about promotion."

The relationship has also expanded to include a women's team, the Mfuwe Mags Queens.

Crispin provides kit for the players, while Ellie has been using her medical experience to support their wellbeing.

The Newcastle connection is now spreading beyond the Mags themselves.

Crispin collects unwanted football kit from non-league clubs across the North East and sends it to Zambia.

Earlier this month, shirts, shorts and socks were distributed to hundreds of children from 25 schools around Mfuwe.

Among the clubs donating kit were Blyth Town, Wallsend Boys Club, Easington, Whickham, Gateshead Redheugh, Catterick Garrison and Kingston Park.

The kit is being distributed with the help of football recycling charities including Taking Football to Africa and Beyond and KitAid.

For schools where resources are limited, the arrival of a set of football shirts can be significant.

Meleki Chipo, a sports teacher in the area, said the children were delighted.

"The kids are happy because the kit is so hard for us to find out here. Giving us such a donation will go a long way and give the kids motivation to perform very well."

He said football offered children an opportunity to develop their talents and avoid some of the problems affecting young people in the area.

"Football is very important to us. It gives the children a platform to showcase their talents and keeps them away from such things as drugs, early marriage and teenage pregnancy."

For Crispin, the shirts have a significance beyond simply giving children something to wear.

"Kit is a big thing here. It is a mark of prestige – and belonging and being part of a team and everything that brings with it, like community."

However, getting the kit from the North East to rural Zambia is not straightforward.

Crispin collects and sorts the donations, boxes them up in the UK and arranges for them to be shipped to Africa. Once they arrive, they have to be sorted again before being distributed.

"It's an awful lot of work getting to this point. There is the collection and boxing it up in the UK, getting it shipped here and then sorting it out once it's here.

"It's a time-consuming process, but it's always an amazingly uplifting experience."

There is another link to the North East that could have an even greater impact.

Ian Macallan, chief operating officer of Project Luangwa, is originally from County Durham and is also a Newcastle fan.

Project Luangwa works with communities in the area on tourism, education and gender programmes.

In July, it was awarded a $150,000 grant from Fifa's Global Citizen Education Fund to develop sporting opportunities in Mfuwe.

It is the first time Zambia has received a Fifa grant of this kind.

The money is intended to provide facilities including a football pitch and facilities for tennis, basketball and netball.

Macallan says the ambition is to give children opportunities that simply do not exist at present.

"Basically, it's about providing kids like these with a real opportunity to learn through sport and take them away from some of the more difficult things we see in the bush, like teenage pregnancies, early marriage, alcohol abuse and poaching."

He says sport can also help develop confidence and leadership skills, particularly among girls.

"Zambia is really passionate about football and it brings everyone together.

"For us, it brings better health and fitness and leadership skills. It teaches people how to work as a team, particularly girls. Building up their confidence is really key for us."

For Crispin, the personal connection remains the most important part of it.

"The relationship with the players and the people around the club has become really special.

"They are the Mfuwe Mags, but they are also very much part of the Newcastle family."

Four years ago, the question was whether the Mfuwe football club could survive.

Now the question is - how far can it go?

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