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Local wins National Award from The Every Player Counts scheme
Patricia Talarek has been recognised by Crewe Alexandra Football Club, The Football League Trust and The Football Pools and was awarded the Unsung Hero Award at the brmb Grass Roots Football show on June 5th 2011.
Every Player Counts, a leading project of The Football League Trust and supported by The Football Pools, is delivering a three-year, PAN-Disability scheme to develop football opportunities for people with all types of disability in the area.
To recognise the efforts of the scheme locally The Football Pools, in association with the Football League Trust, has once again awarded a ‘Player of the Year Award’ and an ‘Unsung Hero Award’ to recognise excellence in the game and commitment to the programme.
Patricia has been involved with Mental Health football since 2001 and set up the football scheme, which has run with her support and dedication ever since. The Tuesday night training session that was set up in 2001 is still going strong to this day. Pat has now been retired for over a year and yet she still attends Tuesday trainings and fixtures in Manchester, provides lunches, washes kit and organises an annual Christmas dinner. Pat has dedicated time and money to the scheme and her commitment has been outstanding over the years and continues to be despite her retirement. This is what makes Pat the perfect Every Player Counts Unsung Hero. Upon receiving her award, Patricia said: “I retired from nursing a year ago and to be recognised this way makes me so proud.
“The Mental Health scheme at Crewe has progressed each year and there are some fantastic people there.”
Legendary World Cup winner Roger Hunt made a guest appearance at this year’s brmb Grass Roots Football Show to present prizes to the winners of the Football League’s Every Player Counts Awards.
Roger Hunt, an ambassador for The Football Pools, said: “The Football League Trust Every Player Counts project is something I am very proud to be associated with.
“The community departments at clubs across the country are doing a fantastic job encouraging participation and the awards are recognition of all the hard work that every single one of them has put in this year.”
Jon Sheehy, Director of The Football Pools said: “The nominations for these awards are inspiring. This programme really demonstrates the power of football and how sport can provide a real driving force for change in the lives of hundreds of individuals. We are proud to be supporting such an incredible scheme.
”This really stems from our core heritage as a football business committed to supporting local and national initiatives within the club’s community. Creating opportunities and pathways for players of all abilities is a central theme of the Every Player Counts scheme and we hope recognition through these awards will add to the individual’s motivation and success.”
Five individuals from across the UK were recognised at the brmb Grass Roots Football show at the weekend. One National Player of the Year was announced at the show, along with the National Unsung Hero. -ends-
For further information, interviews or to arrange a photograph please contact:
Tony Dewhurst, The Football League: tonydew129@gmail.com, 07790384709
Michelle Robbins, The Football Pools: michelle.robbins@footballpools.com, 07917217861
Brmb Grass Roots Football Show: Tickets – priced from £8 for adults and £4 for children under 16 - gives you exclusive access to all three days of the must attend football event this summer and they are now on sale at www.grassrootsfootball.co.uk
Become a fan of Grass Roots Football on Facebook at www.facebook.com/grassrootsfootballshow
or follow us on twitter http://twitter.com/grfootball
The Football Pools
Notes to editors: The Football Pools is owned and operated by Sportech PLC, one of the world’s leading pools and tote gaming companies. Sportech has a presence in over 30 countries, and every year, process over $13 billion (£8 billion) in pools and tote bets.
The Football Pools business is the world’s oldest football gaming company. Founded in 1923, outside the world famous Old Trafford football stadium, The Football Pools has been based in Liverpool, in the North West of England since that day. Over the past 87 years, this iconic British brand has paid out over £10 billion in prize money to over 60 million winning customers. The Football Pools is proud to be the UK’s favourite football gaming brand with over 500,000 customers every week across a number of channels including postal, telephone, via collector, retail and online.
The Football Pools has always been committed to leaving a lasting legacy, not only for its millions of winning customers, but also through its support of good causes. Over £1.1 billion in donations have been made to sport, the arts and charitable initiatives.
The Football Pools is proud to be an Official Licensee of the Premier League and Football Leagues and an Official Partner of the Scottish Premier League and Scottish Football Leagues. Indeed, the Football Pools have always had a integral link with the game. Over the last four decades, the hundreds of millions of pounds donated by the Football Pools to Football have provided an essential lifeline when the game’s wealth was a fraction of what it enjoys today. This enabled clubs to re-build, modernise and make their grounds safer, as well as helping the game tackle some of its social problems. This legacy can be seen in the scores of new and rebuilt stadiums in all parts of the UK – from Huddersfield, Sunderland, Reading and Bolton to Chester, Derby, Inverness, Livingston and Scotland’s Hampden Park – none of which would have been built in the 1980s and 1990s without Football Pools assistance.
Since 2009, The Football Pools has strengthened its commitment to British football, by partnering the Football Leagues across several charitable initiatives, with the objective of improving the lifestyles of fans within the Football Club’s communities.
Some of these ongoing initiatives include:
The Football Pools donated £1.63 million of funding into ‘Premier League Health’, a scheme designed to raise awareness of and to tackle men’s health issues across the country via 16 Premier League clubs.
The Football League Trust received a donation of £2.59 million to create the pan-disability scheme, ‘Every Player Counts’. There are now over 40 active Football League clubs across the UK participating in the scheme.
The Scottish Football League was provided with funding of £900,000 for the programme “Fit for Football, Fit for Life” including the donation of a defibrillator to each of the 30 SFL clubs. In August 2010, The Scottish Premier League scheme, Football Fans in Training, was launched, focusing on men’s health issues across the 12 SPL clubs. Over £250,000 was donated by The Football Pools.
In total, over 100 clubs are now actively involved in community projects funded by The Football Pools.
To play The Football Pools please visit www.footballpools.com or call 0800 500 000 for further information.
For more information on Sportech PLC, including company history and charitable initiatives please visit www.sportechplc.com.
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Crewe Alexandra Community Project is a vibrant and active community
project that aims to support football development and nurture the passion
of the region behind Crewe Alexandra.
The Football in the Community Scheme was established in 1988 at the Alexandra Stadium. Since then the scheme has undergone significant change and initiated many new and exciting opportunities within the local community. Now based within a stateof- the-art Football Community Centre in Shavington, the scheme offers many activities including regular fun coaching sessions, holiday activity courses, an extensive outreach programme, girls and ladies development opportunities plus much more. To find out more about your Community Project and how you can GET INVOLVED please read on. The Community Manager for the Project at the Alexandra Soccer Centre is Ray Walker (UEFA A Coach Educator) who is supported by a dedicated team of qualified FA Community Coaches, Centre staff and Assistants, all of whom aim to provide the best service possible to a community that lives and breathes football. Our high standards have been recognised by the FA as we have been awarded the FA Charter Standard. “I know how important Football in the Community is to the people of South Cheshire and what a great example it sets to youngsters. Every year is a challenge but we have a firm base here at the Soccer Centre. We have the talent and ability to make it even better. We look forward with you to share that dream.” Ray Walker |
