Brentford FC Partners with SecuTix before new Stadium Move

Lausanne, Paris, London, Madrid, Munich – 16 April 2018 Brentford Football Club, from the English Sky Bet Championship, has appointed SecuTix as its new ticketing and engagement partner. Following a tender process, the global SaaS ticketing and audience management provider will ensure a smooth transition as the club moves from its current home of Griffin Park to a new stadium, less than a mile away, in 2019.

The club was keen to appoint a new ticketing partner now to ensure the platform is well established before the move.

Commenting on the decision, Kurt Pittman, Director of Marketing, Brentford FC, said: “We are a club which has to try to to out think rather than out spend our competitors. For that reason we wanted an innovative partner who offers Software as a Service. We know from experience that when it comes to the amount of work involved in system upgrades, it’s not an easy task with bespoke systems.

“Moving from a 12,400-seat stadium to a 17,250 seater, with nearly 3,000 more premium seats, requires a flexible partner. The SecuTix platform offers that flexibility. Combine that with SecuTix’s desire to help grow our business and we’re confident that we will make a great team as we enter this new chapter.”

David Hornby, SecuTix UK Managing Director, said: “We’re looking forward to being part of Brentford’s exciting journey as they move to their new ground. With the new stadium in mind, our ambition is to make the whole fan experience easier. As a priority, we’re looking at ways to integrate the ticketing purchase with the club’s access control, loyalty partners and mobile app. Once the club has moved stadiums, our focus will be on growing their season ticket base, attracting new fans and increasing their average home game attendance.”

About SecuTix

A pioneer in applying the SaaS model to ticketing, SecuTix is the European developer of an integrated, cloud-based platform for white-label ticketing and audience management. SecuTix 360° provides event professionals with a multichannel ticketing solution to control their distribution, engage their audiences and thus leverage customer loyalty and boost sales. A subsidiary of Swiss systems integrator Elca, SecuTix is headquartered in Lausanne and has offices in Paris, Madrid, London and Munich. Over a hundred businesses, operating in the field of museums, live entertainment, stadiums and sports clubs, municipalities and festivals have put their faith in SecuTix to revolutionise their ticketing processes and provide customers with a unique experience. For more information, visit www.secutix.com

Prostate Cancer UK Match of Action

Gillingham FC proud to support Prostate Cancer.

Today we’re delighted to welcome Prostate Cancer UK to MEMS Priestfield Stadium. Volunteers will be collecting money outside the ground this afternoon and with your generosity will be raising money to beat a disease killing 1 man every 45 minutes in the UK.

Prostate Cancer UK is the Official Charity Partner of the EFL. Their “Man of Men” logo sits proudly in the squad numbers of every one of our player’s shirts.

But what does it mean? Prostate Cancer UK’s “Man of Men” represents everyone who wants to stop prostate cancer being a killer. It’s a badge proudly worn by Sky Sports presenter Jeff Stelling and his fellow pundits week in week out on Soccer Saturday.

Last year Jeff Stelling walked with football fans Kevin and Lloyd two inspirational men, living with incurable prostate cancer who are doing everything they can to raise money to beat a disease killing one man every 45 minutes in the UK.

Like Kevin, Lloyd and Jeff Stelling you can wear your Prostate Cancer UK badge with pride too.

Text BADGE to 70004 to donate £5 to help stop prostate cancer being a killer (and get your own Prostate Cancer UK badge to wear with pride).*

Find out more about Prostate Cancer UK’s work in football by visiting their website: http://prostatecanceruk.org/football

Official Pearl Jam x COPA Football Shirts

My friends at Copa sent me this today. I have to admit to not knowing anything about Pearl Jam but I see they are BIG news in the music world.

“Being Pearl Jam fans for years, a dream came true in 2014, when our Tibet Football Shirt was noticed by the band and shown on stage in Amsterdam by Eddie Vedder. By that time, we couldn’t even imagine that an official collaboration was about to happen just four years later.

So we are delighted to reveal the official Pearl Jam x COPA collection in which we combined our passions for football and music. The collection consists of 13 football shirts designed and Made in Europe. This collaboration features Pearl Jam design elements combined with the colors of different football teams.

Maracanã and San Siro are just two iconic football stadiums where Pearl Jam once performed. And with the Pearl Jam 2018 World Tour coming up this summer, the football shirts will be worn with pride all around the globe.

The Pearl Jam x COPA Football Shirts can be found online at the official Pearl Jam webstore.”

All Chauffeur become Brentford FC Official Club Supplier

Brentford Football Club is delighted to announce a new addition to their partnership family with executive travel service All Chauffeur signing to be an Official Club Supplier. Based in Ashford, Middlesex, All Chauffeur specialise in corporate travel, looking after some of the biggest companies in London and the Home Counties.

All Chauffer offer a full range of executive services for any occasion and will be looking after the Club’s needs in that area. The firm specialise in hassle-free travel to and from the airport as well as city-to-city services and special occasions. They have a promise to provide a superiod chauffeur service that drives success.

Paul Nunes, All Chauffeur Commercial Director said: “We’re delighted to be supporting and working with our local football club Brentford FC. We’ve got some exciting plans in the pipeline and although we’re always looking to innovate, we will stay true to our old-fashioned customer service and satisfaction.”

Adam Ward, Brentford Partnership Development Manager said: “All Chauffeur are an ambitious, forward-thinking business and it’s fantastic to have them on board for the exciting journey the club is currently on.”

The Cinema

I came across an interesting thread on Twitter recently.I was surprised to see how often football shirts can be seen in films. Sometimes it is street wear, sometimes it is part of the storyline but it is always interesting to pick up classic and current shirts.

I have a Twitter account at www.twitter.com/ThisIsSpain although it is not wholly focused on shirts or refugees ….. or anything really!

10 Panini Heritage Fifa World Cup T-shirts

For many, a World Cup starts when the opening game is kicked-off. But for Panini-lovers, it all starts months earlier when the new album is in stores. Their eyes light up when seeing one of their favorite players in a newly opened packet of stickers.

For generations, football-lovers have been collecting the famous Panini sticker albums. With a FIFA World Cup coming up in June, we teamed up with Panini for a range of ten special Panini Heritage Fifa World Cup™ collection t-shirts.

The Panini Heritage Fifa World Cup T-shirts can be found online at copafootball.com, in our flagship-store in Amsterdam and via selected retailers and online resellers.

RETRO AS ROMA, RETRO FC BARCELONA

Tonight, two iconic clubs will meet in the quarter finals of the Champions League. Will AS Roma be able to pull out a stunt in Camp Nou or will FC Barcelona already take a first big step into the next round?

We have teamed up with FC Barcelona and AS Roma to create retro collections, made and designed under official license of the clubs. The collections consists of retro shirts and jackets, captain T-shirts and My First Football Shirts© for the youngest fans. Both collections are Made in Europe with great care and pride, using the best possible fabrics for the right vintage look & feel.

Both collections can be found online at copafootball.com, in our Flagshipstore in Amsterdam and via selected retailers and online resellers.

Spain’s First Football Match: Recreativo de Huelva v Sevilla
FC

One hundred and twenty years before Iker Casillas lifted the World Cup for Spain, the first ever football match took place on Spanish soil. That match set in train events that would lead the country to become a leading player in the global game.

After the formalisation of the Association football rules in 1863, there were two forms that the game spread from England around the world: Brits working abroad and bringing a ball with them, or visiting students returning to their own country with a rule book, a football and bags of enthusiasm.

In the case of Spain, it was the former. British expatriots working for the Rio Tinto mining company in Andalusia founded the team now known as Recreativo de Huelva in December 1889. The founding father was a doctor from Caithness, William Alexander Mackay.

Just one month later, and “after a deal of talk and a limited consumption of small beer”, according to the Dundee Courier, Sevilla Football Club was formed. As the anglicised name implies, it was a mixed project between Spaniards and Brits – principally Edward Johnson (president), Isaiah White (secretary) and club captain Hugo MacColl.

The team had started life with a five-a-side kick-about at the Racecourse Club by the banks of the river Guadalquivir on a Sunday morning. Unlike in Britain, where workers enjoyed Saturday afternoon off, which had proven to be a catalyst for the game in its home country, the same could not be said of Spain, but it appears the players managed to gain concessions from their employers to play..

The Dundee Courier was the first newspaper in Britain to report the match. The news likely came to the Dundee Courier via the ships that brought marmalade oranges from Seville to Dundee. The paper picks up the story:

There being a Recreation Club amongst our compatriots in Huelva, we wrote asking them if they could form an eleven and come to Seville and try their strength against us, and in a few days, we got a wire that they would meet us on Saturday, 8th March.

And that date – Saturday, 8 March, 1890 – marks the very first recorded competitive match between two established football clubs in Spain at the Tablada Hippodrome, Seville. The weather was chilly but “glorious” that day, and press and a small crowd of “twelve dozen” (around 100 people) had gathered to watch. Then the rain came down, but it didn’t deter them from a 4.45pm start.

There were two umpires – one from each club – and the British Vice Consul took on refereeing duties “to everyone’s satisfaction”.

Neither team had acquired a kit at this point, with the players presenting “a motley appearance, all kinds of costumes being in requisition”. Sevilla FC’s left winger had never been a part of a sports team and is reported to have donned a “fantastic patterned suit” of pyjamas, drawing the derision of the crowd and earning the title “Clown Yugles”.

Sevilla FC’s Ritson has the distinction of scoring the first competitive goal on Spanish soil, followed shortly by none other than the Clown Yugles. And that’s how it finished: Sevilla FC 2-0 Recreativo de Huelva.

The occasion that this was most probably the first football match in Spain was not lost on either party, and “covers for thirty were laid in the saloon of the Suizo Restaurant”. Sevilla FC’s president Edward Johnston toasted the British and Spanish monarchies, and the two clubs promised a rematch.

Huelva’s team featured two Spaniards – señores Duclós and Coto, while Sevilla’s was made up entirely of British expats who worked for Seville-based employers, such as Seville Water Works.

The Dundee Courier’s report finishes: “…and no doubt the inauguration of the game in this part of the country will be followed by organisations of a similar kind in all parts where a British colony exists in Spain.”

Recreativo can claim to be the first sports club to play football in Spain, while Sevilla FC can claim to be the first club formed exclusively to play the game. For their first decade, just Sevilla FC, Recre and a team from Riotinto team were active in Andalusia. Travel around Spain was not simple in those days.

Recreativo de Huelva has come close to collapse in recent years, but has now stabilised in Spain’s third division, Segunda B. Sevilla FC has filled the trophy cabinet in recent seasons, winning five Europa League titles between 2006 and 2016.

Chris Lee runs the football travel, history and culture blog Outside Write, you can follow him on Twitter – @CMRLee and @OutsideWrite.

New Adidas Clearance

Our friends at Classic Football Shirts have a couple of sales on at the moment. Jump over and grab a bargain!

Award-Winning Journalists on a ‘Journey to Freedom’ in Yorkshire’s Food Capital

Two award-winning journalists will be in Yorkshire’s Food Capital on 29th June to draw attention to a ‘Journey to Freedom’.

Ryedale Book Festival has invited Christina Lamb OBE and Emma Jane Kirby to share their experiences of the refugee crisis at a special celebratory dinner ahead of the Festival’s latest events.

Christina is co-author of ‘The Girl from Aleppo – Nujeen’s Escape from War to Freedom’ and Emma Jane Kirby, penned ‘The Optician of Lampedusa’, and these respected writers will share a meal with guests at the Old Lodge Hotel in Malton, North Yorkshire ahead of the Festival’s journey-themed literary weekend.

Christina and Emma Jane will join guests for the two-course dinner featuring recipes from Marlene Matar’s ‘The Aleppo Cookbook’, which wowed food critics from around the globe when it was published last year.

Sarah Tyson, Festival Director, said: “There is much that we can learn from the stories that Christina and Emma Jane: not all journeys are taken willingly in our world today.

“The evening promises to be an uplifting and inspiring event, spent in the company of two respected writers who have helped to put a human face to the on-going global refugee crisis through their journalism and their books.”

Profits from the evening will be donated to The Refugee Council, a charity that is supporting refugees to make their first challenging steps towards resettlement in North Yorkshire.

Tickets for the dinner are available from the website http://ryedalebookfestival.com/whats-on/journey-for-freedom/ or the Festival Box Office: 07983 943 029