Rowdies Release Justice First Tee in Support of Mkosana's BYS Academy
Published on June 19, 2021 under United Soccer League Championship (USL)
Tampa Bay Rowdies News Release
ST PETERSBURG, Fla - This Juneteenth, the Tampa Bay Rowdies are proud to reveal the Justice First shirt, with a portion of the proceeds from every shirt sold going toward Rowdies forward Lucky Mkosana's Bridging Youth through Soccer Academy back in his home country of Zimbabwe.
Mkosana founded BYS Academy in 2017 with the goal of improving the standard of youth development in the region by providing the resources and platform needed for the young players of Zimbabwe to showcase their abilities. Mkosana was fortunate to earn a scholarship play soccer at Dartmouth College here in the United States, which offered him a chance to both further his development as a player and gain an education. He now seeks to use the success from his good fortune to give back to his community.
"Growing up, there was no guidance in terms of soccer academies in Zimbabwe," said Mkosana. "What we're trying to achieve is we are trying to give them an opportunity to come to the US or go professionally somewhere. But the long term goal is to just help them succeed in soccer and in school."
The Justice First shirt features a design inspired by the work of longtime Rowdies supporter and Ralph's Mob member Mike Pendleton, who was himself inspired by Mkosana and rest of the Rowdies players standing in solidarity with players from across the USL Championship using their platform in 2020 to affect positive change for the black community and stand against systemic racism.
In the off-season, Pendleton used the iconic image of Mkosana protesting in support of social justice reform to create limited original prints, with all sales going toward the BYS Academy.
"It's rare to find a community like the Rowdies that the fans, and the players, and the staff are all together," said Mkosana. "We try to help each other on and off the field. The print by Mike really helped a lot because we managed to raise a lot of funds for helping the kids back in Zimbabwe. Some of the kids couldn't train because they needed vaccinations, so some of the fans really helped with making sure that players are healthy and have basic needs they need for training."
Justice First shirts are now available for purchase in the Rowdies online store. They will also be available on gamedays at Al Lang Stadium.
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