Yere helps youngsters trying to emulate hero Gene

So grateful were the poverty-stricken children of the Pacific Island that Yere collected a bundle of second-hand shirts to take back with him at the end of last season – only to be thwarted by the exorbitant excess baggage charge.

That was the signal for Sheffield Eagles director Chris Noble to take charge and Yere's single-handed charitable efforts snowballed into a world-wide campaign which has drawn the backing of Prime Minister David Cameron.

The organisers of www.kits2kids.com now have a 20-foot container virtually crammed full of boots, shirts, shorts and socks ready to be shipped out to the islands before the start of next season.

Although rugby league is the national sport of Papua New Guinea, it remains a third-world country where sporting gear is regarded as a luxury and Yere, pictured left, knows how much difference the 2,000-plus full kits will make to the lives of his less-fortunate countrymen.

"It's going to make a big difference," he said. "We're going to send it out to the remote areas. They love their rugby there.

"The small boys love to play rugby league. They will play on any patch of land and in bare feet.

"Sometimes I used to send boots from the post office and last year when I went back at the end of the season for the Pacific Cup I tried to take two big bags of old shirts and shorts with me but they wanted to charge 450.

"So I couldn't pay for that and one of the club directors came up with this idea."

Yere, who received the award of sports personality of the year for PNG in 2008, is by no means his country's first rugby league philanthropist.

Stanley Gene, who made his home in England after the 1995 World Cup, never forgot his roots and, so the tale goes, among other generous acts paid for electricity to be installed in his old village.

Gene is revered on both sides of the world for his passion for the game and he was a popular choice to succeed Adrian Lam as Papua New Guinea's coach when the former Wigan scrum-half resigned amid the internal squabbling that has engulfed the game in the islands.

After stepping into the breach, the former Hull KR, Hull, Huddersfield and Bradford loose forward had just a month to assemble a team for their opening Four Nations Series game with Australia in Sydney this Sunday but, if anyone could do it, it was the irrepressible Gene.

"When Adrian Lam stepped down, everybody knew Stanley was going to be the next coach," said Yere, who made his international debut against the Kangaroos in the 2008 World Cup and is set to line up against them at Parramatta Stadium.

"We still look on him as our role model. We want to be like Stanley Gene. People go crazy when they see him.

"Back home, they love rugby league and everybody respects Stanley Gene. He could be Prime Minister one day."

More immediately, Gene has the daunting task of getting his team up for their game with the tournament holders and red-hot favourites and he will hope to draw encouragement from their battling efforts in the World Cup.

"In that first game, the boys nearly beat England," recalled Yere, a strong-running centre. "They got us in the last 10 minutes.

"We are only a small country but, if we do everything right and play hard, we might get away with a win.

"We love playing in hot weather so that is going to help us a bit."

After the Four Nations, Yere will be heading back to Sheffield, where he and his partner Cindy have made their home, ready to start a new three-year contract with the Championship club.

He had to learn a new language when he arrived in England for the start of the 2009 season and admits the transition to a new life has not been easy.

"Whenever the boys said anything to me, I used to just say 'yeah'," he recalled. "The club has been good to me.

"My lifestyle back home is different from here but I'm getting used to it. I never expected something big to happen but I'm happy and I'd love to stay a few more years."