Kneecap sponsor Bohemian FC’s away kit to raise funds for ACLAÍ Palestine

Irish rap group Kneecap are sponsoring the away shirt of Dublin’s Bohemian Football Club.

30% of proceeds from sales of the shirt will go to ACLAÍ Palestine, a community gym in the Lajee Centre, at Aida refugee camp, in the West Bank city of Bethlehem. 

Band members Mo Chara, Móglaí Bap, and DJ Próvaí have designed the strip with the team’s own creatives. The concept includes a Keffiyah pattern interwoven with Irish and Palestinian flags, the letters C.E.A.R.T.A. — nodding to the musicians’ 2017 track of the same name, and the Gaelic word for ‘rights’.

The Bohemian FC badge, in the Irish language, an Irish-Palestinian solidarity badge, and the ACLAÍ Palestine logo also feature. You can check out the kit here, although all sizes were sold out at the time of writing. The team have also linked up with Fontaines D.C. on a third kit design, which is currently available. 

“This project is a symbol of solidarity between Ireland and Palestine, and serves to overcome the isolation that is forced upon Palestinians by the ongoing violence and oppression of the occupation and the indifference of Western governments and many media outlets,” said Ainle Ó Cairealláin, Founder and Director ACLAÍ Palestine.

“There’s few sporting clubs in this world who continue to stand strong and unyielding against oppression and in solidarity with the Palestinian people,” added Kneecap’s Bap, aka Naoise Ó Cairealláin. “We will always stand with them and to do so whilst helping to create a space where Palestinian artists can hopefully flourish is special. We want to help spread the music created at the new studio space as much as we can and platform these artists.”

In September, terror charges brought against Mo Chara by the UK Government for alleged support of Hezbollah were dismissed by a British court, bringing a lengthy legal saga to an end. The outfit responded with Sub Focus collaboration, ‘No Comment‘. Earlier this month, Downing Street announced changes to eligibility criteria for a major grant system designed to support musicians with overseas touring costs, which Kneecap had been awarded. This includes restrictions on activities which could bring the scheme into “disrepute”.