Local community heroes will be celebrated up and down the country from Friday 12 January to Saturday 20 January as the EFL, EFL Trust, 72 EFL clubs and their Community Club Organisations launch the first-ever EFL Community Weekends.
Across the period, clubs, managers and players will mark the incredible work that community staff and volunteers deliver 365 days per year, while participants from community programmes will be honoured by special visits from players and matchday activities.
As part of matchday activations, fans will get the chance to hear from participants that have had their lives changed or even saved by their club’s community work and find out more details about the range of projects and ways to get involved.
Look out for the following community heroes on the pitch at half time at Brunton Park on Saturday:
- Carl Carr (Community Sports Trust)
- Mike Carruthers (memorabilia project)
- Simon Clarkson (SLO, memorabilia project and Brunton Park memorial garden)
- Nigel Davidson (Carlisle United EDI officer)
- Cora Jones (Cumberland Youth Services)
- Ross Mattinson (disabled fans representative)
- Terry McCarthy (memorabilia project)
- Chris Middleton (Hilltop United Football Club)
- Teresa Mulholland (Community Sports Trust)
- John Notman (memorabilia project and Brunton Park memorial garden)
- Keith Richardson (Carlisle United HM forces veterans group)
Trevor Birch, CEO of the EFL, said: “Community remains a fundamental part of the EFL and its 72 clubs’ identity, so we are delighted to launch the latest strand of activity in this area – the EFL Community Weekends. The work undertaken by clubs has a hugely positive impact on the participants of the various programmes and the towns and cities where people live.
“Football continues to reach parts of local areas that others simply cannot and successfully addresses challenges linked to health, wellbeing, education and employment alongside helping to keep communities connected. We look forward to celebrating this incredible work in front of match-going fans over the coming two weekends across our network.”
Liam Scully, Chair of the EFL Trust, said: “Our clubs and Club Community Organisations engage more than 840,000 people from EFL communities all year round. To be able to showcase the club community work as a collective and acknowledge the work of participants and programme leaders, many of whom are volunteers, further highlights the unique ability of our network.”
The EFL Community Weekends build on the success of the recent EFL Week of Action in November – where the League and its clubs shone a light on the significant impact club community work has on towns and cities in England and Wales, valued at over £865m a season in the latest community impact report.
During the 2021/22 season, EFL clubs deployed a workforce of almost 10,000 (of which over 4,000 are volunteers) to support community activities, delivering in-kind support of over £40m and more than 120,000 hours of free or subsidised usage of community facilities to benefit the lives of those living in the local community.
For more information on the EFL Community Weekends and the impact of EFL club community work please visit www.efl.com
