Club reveals details of its innovative new shirt sponsorship idea
- Three charities to feature on First Team shirts this season
- The Town Foundation, the Yorkshire Air Ambulance & The Kirkwood all to appear
- Local businesses to have unique opportunity to appear on shirts in home games
Huddersfield Town will give three local charities and smaller local firms exposure on the front of its shirts as part of an innovative approach to shirt sponsorship for the rest of the 2020/21 campaign.
Town’s home shirts for the next home game against Luton Town will wear the poppy and be auctioned off post-Luton to raise valuable funds for the Royal British Legion.
After that – starting with the Sky Bet Championship game at Stoke City on 21 November – the players will wear a different brand across their shirts on a game-by-game basis.
As Pedal for Pounds 11 with Made By Cooper was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Club will give three of the charities that were set to benefit from the fundraising ride – the maximum number permitted by Football Association rules – the main shirt sponsorship free of charge at away league games this season.
As well as the Club’s own Town Foundation charity, which has served over 1.75 million free breakfasts to local schoolchildren via its ‘Early Kick-Off’ breakfast clubs among so much other work across our community, the Yorkshire Air Ambulance and The Kirkwood will also appear on the front of the shirts – six times each in the remaining 18 league away games.
A selection of the match worn shirts from away league games will be auctioned off in due course to raise money for the charities; details of this process will be confirmed in due course.
The Yorkshire Air Ambulance is a long-standing charity partner of the Club, with its two helicopters performing life-saving flights daily across our region.
The Kirkwood – formerly known as Kirkwood Hospice – offers support for anyone affected by a life limiting illness in Kirklees.
The fourth charity that would have benefitted from P4P11 with Made By Cooper – Platform 1 – will also receive funds from the shirt auctions.
For the majority of the remaining home games, the Club will open its premier advertising opportunity to smaller firms by way of a match-by-match draw.
20 tickets will be available for each available game at just £250 + VAT each, with all firms invited to buy as many of the 20 as they like, from one to all 20! A First Team player will then draw the winning ticket at random ahead of the game, which will be broadcast live on the Club’s Business Twitter account, @htafcbusiness, and that firm will appear on the shirt!
The first of these draws will take place ahead of the home game against Middlesbrough on 28 November! Tickets are available now at £250 each until noon on Friday 20 November 2020. Email shirtsponsor@htafc.com to get yours and stand a chance of seeing your company on the front of Town’s shirts!
The Club will also offer the winner the match worn shirts to keep or will auction them off for a charity of their choice.
The company will receive many other benefits around the game too, such as iFollow passes to watch the game and coverage on the Club’s sponsorship properties around the game.
Pending demand, we’ll also endeavour to make brands that appears on the shirt available for Town fans to have printed on a replica shirt via the Club’s retail outlets too!
Please note that the sponsor's branding will be subject to the Club's and the FA's approval.
This initiative has been made possible by PURE Business Group, led by Town Chairman Phil Hodgkinson, which has paid a significant financial sum to be the main club partner this season and underpin this innovative idea.
Huddersfield Town Chairman Phil Hodgkinson commented:
“Over the last decade, Huddersfield Town has been synonymous with community and charitable work, not just through our own Foundation but with other local charities.
“The pandemic has both distracted us from this work and hindered us in our ability to carry it out. Having PURE Business Group as the Main Club Partner, but forfeiting the right to adorn the front of our famous shirt, provides us with the opportunity to help important charities at a time when fundraising is proving extremely difficult, but also gives any local business - no matter how large or small - the opportunity to have their company or brand on the shirt; a rare opportunity indeed.
“There are many more deserving local charities in Huddersfield and the wider Yorkshire area than we are able to give this opportunity to, and I would encourage those businesses who are lucky enough to make the front of shirt to allow us to auction off the signed shirts from their games for a local charity of their choosing.
“In these difficult times, it is important that we all pull together and demonstrate how much this football club is still an important part of the community and will always continue to be so.”
Huddersfield Town’s Commercial Director Andy Ward added:
“This innovative approach will benefit a wide range of businesses, as well as generating revenue for the club and giving great media and broadcast exposure to three charities.
“Huddersfield Town has a long and successful association with many local businesses, and we see this as a great opportunity to offer some welcome exposure to firms who are all battling against the pandemic.
“It’s also great that we can offer the space to three fantastic charities, who can use the exposure and the shirts themselves to generate vital donations towards their work.”
