AFC Bournemouth
AFC Bournemouth Community Sports Trust were celebrated during last night’s game against Manchester United.
For the second successive season, the Trust's dedicated game saw a variety of different events throughout the evening celebrating the successes it has within the local community.
To begin with, videos were played inside and outside Vitality Stadium, highlighting the different projects. The Goals Cherries Fit Challenge and Premier League Disability work with Kick it Out were displayed within the ground, whilst you might have also seen the Soccer Schools and Soccer Safety school visits shown on the screen by the Great Escape Bar.
Additionally, the Cherries squad for last night’s game all warmed up in Community Sports Trust branded t-shirts, further displaying their exceptional support to community projects. First team players have now taken part in over 100 community appearances since being promoted to the Premier League three seasons ago.
In similar branded Community Sports Trust t-shirts were the flagbearers. In total, there were 14 all from different programmes, the youngest being just five years old and a regular at the weekly Minikickers sessions. The oldest flagbearer was aged 93 and came from St Ives Residential Home. He is a regular in the Community Sports Trust sessions as part of the ongoing partnership with Care South.
Other Community Sports Trust programmes represented by the flagbearers include the AFC Bournemouth ladies and girls' teams, Premier League Kicks, Premier League Girls, Walking Football and Goals. Finally, four of the flagbearers from last night were all representing the Premier League and BT Disability programme, with representatives from the REACH, Ability Counts and the FA Talent Hub schemes.
The Fans' Champion was awarded to Steve Legg, who has shown incredible amounts of support to the Community Sports Trust over recent seasons. Not only is Steve an attendee of our Cherries Fit Challenge, but he also brings his four children to a variety of different sessions, and has two daughters who play in the AFC Bournemouth girls' teams. Steve and his family are a perfect example of how AFC Bournemouth is a club for all of the family.
Finally, we were delighted to provide one of our Premier League Primary Stars participants, from Muscliff Primary School, the opportunity to be the referee's mascot yesterday evening. Charlie described the whole experience of meeting the players and walking out of the tunnel onto the pitch, as “the best day of his life!”.
To round off a brilliant evening celebrating the Community Sports Trust, the half-time penalty competition included young people from the Community Sports Trust sessions. Five young children, including Charlie, took to the pitch at half time to try and score past Cherry Bear, whilst head of community Steve Cuss was interviewed over the tannoy by Mike Botto.
To sum up the matchday, Cuss said: “The opportunity to showcase the work of AFC Bournemouth's Community Sports Trust at a Premier League fixture was a fantastic opportunity to bring together participants from our many projects to celebrate.
"I’m very grateful to those who continually support the Trust's events and to AFC Bournemouth for their support.”
