BIG hearted Gillingham supporters have come to the aid of a poverty-stricken football club in Ghana and provided them with £1,600 worth of kit.

Members of the independent Gills Supporters' Club, who have been banned by Gillingham FC chairman Paul Scally from any form of club sponsorship, have decided instead to invest in the Accra-based Intermillas club who will now be known as Intermillas Gills.

Thanks to Gills fans, Intermillas will benefit from 16 royal blue shirts plus badges and numbers, 32 pairs of shorts, 16 pairs of socks, 32 tee-shirts, 32 training bibs, 10 match balls plus pumps and inflators and two sets of training ground markers.

The Gills Supporters' Club now join Dutch giants Ajax and Feyenoord in investing in the emerging football academies in Accra.

All negotiations have been conducted with the British High Commission in Accra and the Foreign Office and the supporters have received an assurance that none of the equipment will find its ways on to Accra's notorious Black Market when it is shipped to Ghana in three weeks.

The grateful recipient will be Intermillas coach Salim Bouradi who, by coincidence was rejected by Gillingham after having trials during former manager Keith Burkinshaw's time at Priestfield in the late 80s.

Mike Keskeys, vice-chairman of the Gills Supporters' Club who has handled negotiations with the Football Association and the British High Commission, explained: "Because Paul Scally doesn't want our money, we decided to look elsewhere.

"So we got in touch with Kent County FA chairman Barry Bright, who is a director of the FA, and asked if he could put us in touch with a deserving cause in the Third World.

"He suggested we spoke with Jane Bateman of the Football Association's international department and she came up with the Intermillas Football Club, which both she and us consider a good cause."

Mr Keskeys added: "I would like to assure our members that the kit will reach its intended destination and we hope to have photographs and possibly a video of the Intermillas players in the new kit within the next couple of months."