Very rare this days in the cash-thirsty prem you hear of a story that makes you sit up and take notice, but looks like Aston Villa have made me do that.
They have an agreement of a children's hospice similar to Demelza called Acorns, which they have been financially supporting for the last couple of months due to it having a fund shortage and having to close beds.
They've now gone further and forgone shirt sponsorship for this season and will wear the hospice's name across their shirt.
I think i have finally found a Premiership team i don't want to get stuffed every week.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/a/aston_villa/7433169.stm
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This is truly fantastic - but can obviously only be sustained with a rich sugar daddy who can pick up the losses
I heard this a while ago through some Villa friends of mine. Apparently the club has already started to offset the costs by making more Corporate seats and tickets for the actual Directors' Box available to "real" supporters in the hope of securing some revenue instead of the normal abundance of freebie dignataries etc.
Will be interesting to see who follows the charity and how quickly the "You couldn't get a proper sponsor" quips start.
I believe that Barca paid Unicef a couple of million as part of their deal, rather than just giving free exposure to the charity.
BUT
Hats off to them for doing fantraastic gesture - hopefully will spur some of the bigger teams to follow suit.
support and understanding is one thing but hard cash is another. Every Villa fan would have to donate £40 to raise 2m and that ain't gonna happen. A great idea and great exposure but flawed in my opinion.
great minds think alike !!
by support i meant financial Large, sorry for the ambiguity
all it takes is to attract the attention of some people who want to contribute to something but don't know exactly what... there are big fish out there
but i do agree, it isn't a watertight method of sustaining and advancing the charity... but a great gesture it is
That is what my money is on.
We are delighted to announce a shirt partnership with Acorns Children's Hospice that will see the hospice name carried on team shirts for the 2008/9 season.
The relationship between Aston Villa Football Club and Acorns began through the Club's support of the children's hospice over two years ago.
Since then, players and staff have had the opportunity to learn about the organization through meeting children, parents and nurses as well as Acorns' CEO, David Strudley, and other key members of staff.
It is through these very personal connections that our relationship has evolved to the point where we approached Acorns about becoming a partner and appearing on our match day shirt.
As is the case with all clubs in the Premiership and beyond, Aston Villa is in pursuit of lucrative commercial sponsors. Conscious of ticket prices and fan expectation we are constantly benchmarking ourselves both regionally and nationally. What's more, we are aware that new stadia are driving-up expectations for match-day hospitality and again we are striving to react with one eye on tradition and the other on progress.
But Aston Villa's history and heritage remain fundamental values that cannot be ignored and all these factors shaped our internal expectations regarding the sponsorship value of our shirt and the esteem in which we hold and cherish whatever symbol or message appears on it.
We regard this partnership as more important and more valuable than any commercial opportunity presented to us.
Our Strategy
Aston Villa is first and foremost a football club. All supporters of the game know that Aston Villa has enjoyed success for more than a century, winning virtually every honour possible in English and European football. We remain determined to retain the historical links and bonds that have existed with significant areas of Birmingham and we see our partnership with Acorns as a central way of doing so. We also believe that economic benefits for the club can be derived from this partnership.
Traditional for-profit businesses will understand our motivation for supporting Acorns and will react positively toward the club and Acorns in terms of their desire to be associated with the partnership.
Implementation
Aston Villa and Acorns are designing a series of initiatives and events that we believe will inform and celebrate the partnership on a local and national level. They are intended to give supporters, staff and players the opportunity to learn about and support Acorns work and their broader mission. The goal of course is to provide significant value and assistance to further the efforts and good work of Acorns.
Conclusion
To some extent, placing Acorns on our match day shirt is an experiment. But it is already an involvement with which we, as an organisation, feel increasingly positive. It is our hope that we are able to introduce this partnership to new and existing business relationships which will generate economic value to support the Club's competitive ambitions and, at the same time giving a truly wonderful organisation a significant platform from which to touch more people.
Aston Villa's Webteam can articulate my thoughts a lot better than I can!
And there is the clincher for next years multi-million pound deal with a company employing 11 year olds in a third world country and paying them in cow dung.
;-)
Wish I could predict the lotto numbers as well : - )
i thought villa were quite attractive last season , with the pace of agbonlahor and young,
i didn't mind watching 'the villa'
i thought villa were quite attractive last season , with the pace of agbonlahor and young,
i didn't mind watching 'the villa'[/quote]
Sorry that was a little unfair to the team, i retract my quote Martin O'Neill is the most boring man in football!
Very strange opinion.
Let me know if you stay awake after meeting Cubs / Megson / Coppell / Sanchez / Keane / Benetez / Moyes / Wenger