Rob Hewitt, 25, and Jemaine Lee Jarvis, 20, were tasked to address the decline in men’s 11-a-side football locally which has become both a national and regional trend.
To help address the problem of reduced participation, Rob and Jemaine devised a regional football tournament known as the Berks and Bucks Champions League, which went on to attract the interest of Sky Sports News.
The students were interviewed at a Berks and Bucks Champions League match and the footage was broadcast in April as part of Sky’s coverage of grassroots football.
Rob said: “It was exciting to be on Sky Sports! I’d told a few of my friends about it, but then had texts and calls from lots of others who’d just caught the interview."
The Berks and Bucks Champions League was a six-week tournament played at Amersham Town FC’s ground on School Lane, Amersham, involving four clubs from across the region. Over 60 players took part with 15 players named in each of the squads.
Some of the clubs already existed, and some were entirely new having been established specifically for the tournament, thanks to the recruitment and publicity efforts of Rob and Jemaine.
Teams played fixtures once a week culminating in a play-off finals night last month with the top teams vying to win the competition. Taplow United took the title, beating Bucks FC (Bucks New University team) by 4-0 in a close-fought match, where Taplow United were the deserved winners.
Speaking of the ambassador programme Rob said: “The Berks and Bucks Champions League was a different type of tournament to those I have worked on before as it was more targeted to the grassroots level. The event went really well and all the teams gave positive feedback. Jemaine and I were both very happy with the way the tournament went and the appreciation we received from the teams has been very worthwhile.”
to see the video of this project click the link below:
http://thefa.com/video.aspx?bcpid=61498342001&bctid=106508970001
For more information on flexible format football or volunteering opportunities please contact Paul Backman on 078244 80905