Maintaining commit.template config through clones

Hi,
I'm attempting to implement Git at our company, and we currently use a 
commit template for CVS. I can convert this to a Git-formatted template, 
and set it for use with git-config commit.template ....

However, once the repository is cloned, this configuration option 
vanishes from .git/config

Is there a way to make configuration options sticky?

thanks,
Toby

-- 
Toby Corkindale
Software developer
w: www.rea-group.com
REA Group refers to realestate.com.au Ltd (ASX:REA)

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