Sheffield: Two clubs share same sponsors

The city of Sheffield has another first in football. Sheffield FC was the worlds first football club; but these days the top two clubs in the city are Sheffield United and Sheffield Wednesday.

Both clubs will play this season in the English League One (third Division from top) after Wednesday were relegated last year and United only a few weeks ago. Both are making a new start in League One with an aim to get promoted.

Now both clubs have signed a joint sponsorship deal with the firms Gilders Group (a Volkswagen dealer) and Westfield Health (a health insurance firm) which is said to be worth a six-figure sum for both sides.

That two sides in the same city have the same sponsor has happened before, e.g. in Scotland at Glasgow Rangers and FC Celtic or in India with East Bengal and Mohun Bagan who are co-owned and sponsored by the United Breweries Group.

The speciality in Sheffield is the fact that both clubs will sport different jersey's home and away, then when both sides where in talks with local companies many said that they would not like to sponsor one of the local Sheffield sides as either the Blades or Owls fans would be against such sponsors.

The deal sees Sheffield United sporting the Westfield Health logo in their home matches and the Gilders logo in their away games, while Wednesday will have the Gilders logo in their home games and Westfield Health in their away matches.

Platinum Jubilee Cup: East Bengal win a thrilling derby

East Bengal yesterday won the 'Mohammedan Sporting Platinum Jubilee Cup' against archrivals Mohun Bagan in a thrilling finale at the Saltlake Stadium in Kolkata. Both teams had left out their foreigners and most of their regular players to give fringe players and youngsters the chance to gain experience from these two matches. And those who missed the derby would no curse themselves as the Saltlake Stadium was less then one-fourth filled.

The match had ended two-all after 90 minutes, three-all after 120 minutes and then East Bengal won the match 3-2 on penalties; an overall result of 6-5. A derby as the fans of the two big Maidan sides love it, only one went home happy, the other disappointed.

The match was an open game which both sides could have won. Seasoned Alvito D'Cunha led the young East Bengal squad from the front tough having played no matches so far. It was Alvito who opened the scoring for the red-and-gold, but goals from Satish Kumar Jr and Ashim Biswas turned the match in favour of Mohun Bagan, but Robin Singh would score for East Bengal to take the match into extra time. There once more Robin Singh would give East Bengal the lead with Harpreet Singh equalising to late the match into extra time.

And there young East Bengal keeper Jayanta Pal was the hero of the day. Jayanta was brought on only for the penalty shootout and he did not disappoint his coaches as he blocked shots from Souvik Chakraborty and Snehasish Chakraborty, while Gouranga Datta and East Bengal's Ravinder Singh couldn't score. In the end East Bengal 3-2 on penalties and the title.

Earlier on Friday in the semifinals of the 'Mohammedan Sporting Platinum Jubilee Cup' Mohun Bagan had beaten English non-league side Sheffield FC, while East Bengal beat the hosts Mohammedan Sporting. Both matches ended 1-0 and the goals came literary towards the end leaving the beaten sides no chance to react.


MATCH STATS

Mohun Bagan AC: Sangram Mukherjee; Kingshuk Debnath, Sangram Mandi (12' Rahul Kumar), Herpreet Singh, Biswajit Saha (106' Dipendu Dowary); Satish Kumar Jr, Souvik Chakraborty, Santosh Oraon, Snehasish Chakraborty; Jacken Sebastian (52' Gouranga Dutta), Ashim Biswas

East Bengal Club: Naseem Akhtar (117' Jayanta Pal); Saikat Saha Roy, Gurwinder Singh, Sunil Kumar, Ravinder Singh; Sanju Pradhan, Sushanth Mathew, Alvito D'Cunha, K Aseem (59' Biswajit Natta); Budiram Tudu (Bikash Narzary), Robin Singh

Referee: Barun Saha

Man of the Match: Robin Singh (East Bengal)

Man of the Tournament: Ashim Biswas (Mohun Bagan)

Sheffield FC's Chris Dolby looks forward to India visit

When Chris Dolby arrived as a player at Sheffield FC, the world’s first Football Club, he would never have dreamed that one day he would be managing the team in a tournament in India to commemorate a major event in their football history.

And what makes this journey so interesting for Chris Dolby is that he is of Asian origin. From being the first Asian player of note to play in the Football League, when he signed as a professional for Rotherham United in 1993, Chris moved through the playing ranks of non-league football to become Player Manager of the world’s first Football Club in 2008.

Now in his third season as Manager of Sheffield FC, Chris has already led the club to a league semifinal play-off place last year and more recently to within one game of the 1st Round Proper in the FA Cup – an achievement that no manager at the club has bettered in its modern history.

Chris is well-placed through his experience to comment on the position of Asian players in English football, "Asian kids are now playing at grass roots, comprehensive school and Sunday league level, which was not happening before," he said. "Asians used to divide themselves off before and play in Asian-only leagues. But if they are thinking of progressing, that won't help them. They need to play in mixed local teams and that is now happening to a degree."

“We are well aware, as we get ready to visit India, that the game over there has been somewhat overshadowed by the tremendous growth and popularity of cricket. Football in India needs a role model, a superstar as cricket has found in Sachin Tendulkar. Once one player makes that break through, then others will surely follow. Taking a side from the world’s first Football Club to Kolkata, to play in the Platinum Jubilee Cup feels me with great pride and I hope that the publicity from our visit will help to promote the sport throughout the country.”

Apart from playing in the Platinum Jubilee Cup the team will also be playing in Shillong and Guwahati. Sheffield FC will also be doing some coaching in the local community, which will give Chris and the team a firsthand glimpse at the potential of young local players.


About Sheffield Football Club

Sheffield FC, the world’s first Football Club, was founded in 1857 and has been officially recognised by the FA and FIFA as the oldest football club in the world.

Sheffield FC competes in the Evo-Stik League Division One South and plays home games at the BT Local Business Stadium in Dronfield.

Sheffield FC was awarded the FIFA International Order of Merit in 2004 (Real Madrid are the only other club in the world to hold this). In 2010 the club also received the Nelson Mandela Sport and Solidarity Award and the International Fair Play Award.

Sheffield FC to also play in Shillong & Guwahati

When Sheffield FC was originally approached to play in India, the visit was only due to last four days to take part in the Platinum Jubilee Cup in Kolkata. However, the world#s first Football Club was then asked if it would extend the trip to include further matches in Guwahati and Shillong; to which it agreed.

Following the Platinum Jubilee Cup, Sheffield will leave Kolkata on 15 November and take an internal flight to Guwahati and then a coach to Shillong, where they will hold a press conference and attend an official dinner hosted by the Government of Meghalaya, before playing local side Shillong Lajong FC on November 16. The following day sees the club return to Guwahati for the final game of the tour.
The exhibition match in Guwahati will be against an Assam XI, with players selected from those taking part in the Dr. T. Ao Football Tournament to be held at Imphal from November 21. The game will be held under floodlights at the Indira Gandhi Athletic Stadium in Sarusajai on November 18.

While they are in India, Sheffield FC will be ambassadors for Sheffield's bid to become a Host City for the 2018 FIFA World Cup, sharing their passion and knowledge about football with the people they meet.

Wayne Coyle, Sheffield2018 bid director, said: "It's great that the world#s first Football Club is helping to develop the sport around the globe. As part of the World Cup bid, we want more people to have access to playing football and Sheffield FC's global brand will help us use football as a tool to tackle other social problems."

"With bid stakeholder Sheffield FC already helping with this in India, we know that Sheffield as a city can use football to make a huge impact on the health and development of people the world over, as well as on home soil."

Sheffield FC leaves for India next Wednesday, November 10 and returns 10 days later having hopefully made many new friends in the Indian sub-continent and had a successful trip.


About Sheffield Football Club

Sheffield FC, the world’s first Football Club, was founded in 1857 and has been officially recognised by the FA and FIFA as the oldest football club in the world.

Sheffield FC competes in the Evo-Stik League Division One South and plays home games at the BT Local Business Stadium in Dronfield.

Sheffield FC was awarded the FIFA International Order of Merit in 2004 (Real Madrid are the only other club in the world to hold this). In 2010 the club also received the Nelson Mandela Sport and Solidarity Award and the International Fair Play Award.

Sheffield FC: World’s first Football Club to play in Kolkata

Sheffield FC, the world's first Football Club ( www.sheffieldfc.com ) has been invited by Mohammedan Sporting Club to play in the Platinum Jubilee Cup 2010 in Kolkata next week, plus two additional exhibition matches in Shillong and Guwahati. And the club from Yorkshire have accepted the invitation.

2010 marks the Platinum Jubilee of Mohammedan Sporting's victory over Dalhousie to lift the Calcutta Football League title and to celebrate this milestone the world's first Football Club will play against three iconic clubs of Kolkata: East Bengal, Mohun Bagan and Mohammedan Sporting, in a knockout tournament for the Mohammedan Sporting Platinum Jubilee Cup.

"We are extremely happy to be able to present this Platinum Jubilee Cup," said Sultan Ahmed, Mohammedan Sporting president and Union Minister of State for Tourism. "We are thankful to IFA and the Management of city giants East Bengal and Mohun Bagan for spontaneously supporting the celebration of our club. We hope it marks a new beginning for 'EMTA' Mohammedan Sporting that has been one of the foremost clubs with which Indian football is associated."

"We are extremely thankful to Sheffield FC for finding time to come down to Kolkata to be part of this historical moment," club General Secretary Jameel Manzar said.

Sheffield FC chairman, Richard Tims, stated when asked about the tournament, "India is a rapidly growing nation and soon to be amongst the world's top economic powerhouses. Football is the fastest growing sport there and it is a great honour to be one of the first English sides to be invited to play there, coach the youngsters and also promote the England 2018 World Cup bid."

The tournament will be played in a knockout format in which two teams will play against each other and the winners will play the final at the Salt Lake Stadium, where all the matches will be played on November 12 and 14.

To further boost the occasion, former Indian cricket captain and football enthusiast Sourav Ganguly will be the brand ambassador for the Cup and will also don the black and white jersey of Mohammedan Sporting on the occasion.


About Sheffield Football Club

Sheffield FC, the world’s first Football Club, was founded in 1857 and has been officially recognised by the FA and FIFA as the oldest football club in the world.

Sheffield FC competes in the Evo-Stik League Division One South and plays home games at the BT Local Business Stadium in Dronfield.

Sheffield FC was awarded the FIFA International Order of Merit in 2004 (Real Madrid are the only other club in the world to hold this). In 2010 the club also received the Nelson Mandela Sport and Solidarity Award and the International Fair Play Award.