Football club announces sponsorship deal to raise funds for Children 1st

New partnership will see club fundraise and increase awareness of Capital charity

Edinburgh’s Tynecastle Football Club players are set to wear strips promoting the Children 1st charity under a new partnership between the team and the Edinburgh-based organisation.

The deal will see the club work towards raising between £2,000 to £3,000 for the charity at future fundraising events.

Tynecastle has been active in the past in raising funds for charities, with £1,800 donated to the Western General’s cancer ward and £750 to the Jamie Skinner foundation that was set up when the former player tragically died during a match in 2013.

Rangers captain Lee Wallace was joined by his Hearts counterpart Christophe Berra at the launch to unveil the club’s new away shirt bearing the charity’s logo.

Tynecastle FC Chief Executive Officer Douglas Dalgleish said the partnership was a perfect fit for the community-based club.

“We wanted to be associated with a charity that fits with what we have, which is children,” he said. “Predominantly we are a youth football club.

“It’s not just a one-off, here’s a strip and on you go. It’s a partnership to try and raise some funds for a fantastic charity.”

Set up in 1884 as the Royal Scottish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, the charity switched names to Children 1st in 1995 to emphasise a message that children were at the heart of what they do.

It currently funnels 90p of every pound raised back into its children’s services.

Children 1st Senior Community Fundraiser Rajan Johnson said: “We don’t have money or a budget to go and put up a billboard or do a TV or radio advert.

“So for a club like this to come along and wear our logo is amazing. It’s good to get our name out there to those people who wouldn’t normally know who we are and they may just google us to find out what we do.

“There might be people we can support just by seeing our name on their shirts.”

Berra said: “I think Hearts are a very community club and we’re a family club as well and anything that counts to help or benefit other people that are not as fortunate as us is always close to the club’s heart.”

0 Berra and Wallace at the launch