Simon Cox and the rest of the Royals will be sporting a very special kit on Saturday.
Reading won’t be wearing their usual striped kit in their upcoming clash against Blackburn Rovers. Instead, the Royals will be donning a special one-off kit designed by 14-year-old superfan Ryan Duval.
Ryan, who has muscular dystrophy, designed his electric blue shirt as part of a school project. When club captain Jem Karacan caught wind of Ryan’s jersey on a visit to his school, he started the process of turning the design into an official club kit.
Karacan originally suggested that the club produce t-shirts based on Ryan’s design for the first-team squad to wear before kick-off, but when Puma heard about the project, they went the extra mile and went about turning it into an official match-day kit.
.@JemKaracan21 then surprised Ryan by bringing a real-life version of his kit to a school assembly #RyansRoyals pic.twitter.com/jenLXJc3Tt
— Reading FC (@ReadingFC) April 9, 2015
As a result, Reading will play the full game this weekend wearing Ryan’s jersey, and Karacen is delighted that the club could give something back to one of their fans.
“Ryan is a young lad a few of us met a couple of months ago on a visit to a local school and, meeting him, his schoolmates and his family, his story really touched our hearts.”
“To learn what Ryan is going through, it was so nice in the first instance to go to his school and put a smile on his and his classmates’ faces.”
Reading are planning to auction off their special edition shirts off after the game, with all proceeds going to Ryan’s school.
#RyansRoyals proving dreams can come true @ReadingFC http://t.co/uNoNjgFPkX pic.twitter.com/huxv8XUx1w
— Berkshire Live (@berkshire_live) April 9, 2015
Hat-tip to Who Ate All the Pies
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