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Newspaper staff indulge their football fantasies

Nearly 60 staff from Archant Norfolk lived out a footballing fantasy when they took to the pitch of Norwich City FC.

Editorial, accounts and information services staff laced up their shooting boots for the mini-tournament at the Carrow Road stadium (left) and raised £600 for charity in the process.

An appeal sent out to staff looking for potential players garnered enough interest for four 11-a-side teams, leading to semi-finals, a 3/4th place play-off and grand final.

Each player was asked to donate £10, all of which went to a leukaemia appeal run by current Norwich City FC manager Bryan Gunn whose daughter died of the disease aged two.

The dozens of supporters who turned up for the afternoon were also asked to donate, pushing the final total well over the £600 mark.

An application will now be submitted to see if the money will be match-funded by Archant.

David Powles, news editor at the Norwich Evening News and the event’s organiser, said: “It was an absolutely brilliant afternoon and hopefully everyone enjoyed the chance to play at Carrow Road.

“I had a phenomenal response to my original appeal for players and what made the afternoon such a success was the fact that whilst people were competitive, the whole tournament was played out in the right spirit.

“There was also some pretty decent football played at times too. The fact that my own team won was the icing on the cake of a great day.”

  • A video of their silky skills can be seen on the Norwich Evening News website.
  • Comments

    nigel pickover (20/05/2009 09:56:49)
    Many congratulations to David on his excellent initiative and charity fund raising.
    Meanwhile, HTFP readers may care to enjoy The Evening Star’s Norwich City relegation board game at www.eveningstar.co.uk where they can click on a home page button to witness all the fun of The One Game, Division One that is.

    Charlie Swift (20/05/2009 12:17:44)
    Now is the time to let the footballers put the newspaper together… they’d do a better job than the nuggets currently doing it in Norfolk.

    Nigel Picksnoses (20/05/2009 14:31:54)
    Talking of regional football reporting, check this out:
    http://www.wrathofthebarclay.co.uk/interactive/board/message.php?pid=1082176