August 2011
Blackburn Rovers FC teams up with The Prince's Trust
Blackburn Rovers FC has announced a unique Charity of the
Year partnership with The Prince’s Trust for the upcoming 2011-12
football season.
The partnership will see Rovers donate the
branding space on its famous shirts to the charity instead of
selling the space to a sponsor. The club, which has a history of
running Prince’s Trust programmes for disadvantaged young people in
the area, has committed to fundraising for the charity throughout
the season in addition to the pro bono shirt contribution.
Simon Williams, head of commercial and
marketing at BRFC, said:
The club has enjoyed a strong and productive
relationship with The Prince’s Trust since 2005 and this agreement
takes that relationship onto another level. The exposure The
Prince’s Trust will obtain as our shirt partner will greatly
increase the level of awareness for the charity and hopefully
encourage fundraising for the fantastic work they do with
young people.”
The Prince’s Trust has a long history of
harnessing the power and passion of football to bring about
positive change. Through its partnership with the Premier League
and Professional Footballers Association The Trust has helped over
17,000 young people through football since 1997, working with over
65 Premier League and Football League Clubs to deliver a range of
programmes that have helped three in four young people in to work,
training or education.
It is hoped that money raised through the
Charity of the Year partnership will help provide more Prince’s
Trust programmes in Blackburn over the coming year.
Paul Brown, Marketing Director of The Prince’s
Trust, said:
The Prince’s Trust is really pleased to have
been selected as Blackburn Rovers Charity of the Year in a move
which will build on our considerable experience of working with
young people through football. We see this as a brilliant
opportunity to reach out, engage and motivate the most
disadvantaged young people in the community and help us change even
more young lives
Balaji Rao, of Venky’s, owners of Blackburn
Rovers FC, added:
We are absolutely delighted to be able to
support The Prince’s Trust in such a visible way, particularly at
this challenging time for young people in terms of unemployment and
limited opportunities. Helping young people is very much at the
forefront of our community work in India and this partnership is a
perfect way for us to support charities and worthy causes through
football over here.
Rovers decided to reject some commercial sponsorship offers in
order to grasp the special partnership opportunity.