‘Home Team Heroes’ help children play ball

Rochdale Home Team Heroes Launch

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Today (Thursday 25 November 2010) sees the launch of npower’s ‘Home Team Heroes’ programme in Rochdale – a new community initiative to put the power into the hands of the fans.

To mark the launch, Anthony Elding and Chris O’Grady of Rochdale FC will be holding a special training session with children from Holy Trinity Primary School in their playground.

The £2m initiative – which will be run over the course of the three year sponsorship - will ask communities around The Football League’s clubs to vote on how this money should be spent, in order to make the most impact in their local area.

Communities can choose from one of three projects for children:

• A ‘Respect’ training workshop for ten year-olds run in schools with a focus on team work and citizenship
• Football skills training for 4 - 6 year-olds run by the club's community coaches
• Improvement/clean up of a local park into a more football friendly space

The public will have until the end of December to decide and then each Football League club will work with npower to implement the project their fans have selected, before the end of the season. The 72 clubs will be supported in this initiative by The Football League Trust which oversees the League’s community and youth development programmes

Clare McDougall, head of npower’s community and education programme, said: “This scheme is all about giving power to the fans. As a new sponsor, we didn’t want to come in with a ‘one size fits all’ approach. Instead, we’re asking the communities around each club to vote and tell us which option suits them best.”

Greg Clarke, Chairman of The Football League, said: “Football League clubs are an integral part of their local communities, demonstrating that football has the power to make a difference to peoples’ lives. Whichever project each community votes for - be it Respect workshops, football training or the improvement of local playgrounds – our clubs will be actively engaging with local children to encourage them to get involved in football.”

Fans can cast their votes by visiting the npower website, texting, filling in postcards at their local Football League club, at one of npower’s touring event stands in the local area or by logging onto their club’s official website.