Ipswich Town players will proudly carry the crest of East Anglia’s Children’s Hospices (EACH) on their back this coming season.
New sponsorship rules have come in for 2017/18 allowing clubs to use space on the back of their shirts for extra advertising.
However, Ipswich Town has instead decided to support one of the area’s much-loved charities, displaying their logo on the kit for the entire season.
The charity’s logo will appear on both home and away shirts as well as on the back of the shirts worn by the Ipswich Town Ladies team.
This will be the first time in the club’s history players have carried the name of a charity on their shirts.
Town manager Mick McCarthy said the players had enjoyed their time visiting EACH in the past.
He said: “It has always been a place that I’ve thought we had a tie-in with, having the name on the shirt is an official one and that’s great.
“Whatever I knew about Ipswich Town before I joined nearly five years ago was it was a nice place, with nice people, a family club and I think that just backs it all up to be honest with you. “I think we have a really good squad of players who all buy into it and they do their stuff in the community. “Having the name EACH on the back of our shirts symbolises that for me.”
Ipswich Town managing director Ian Milne said: “I think it’s quite novel for a football club to put a charity on their shirt.
“We could have gone down a commercial route, but this just felt the right thing to do for a community club like us.
“It’s fantastic we’ve got EACH on board. They were very much the choice of the staff. We all felt it should be a local one, rather than a national one.
“Really, they are honouring us by letting us put them on their shirts because of the amazing work they do. What they do really puts football into perspective.”
Ipswich Town captain Luke Chambers added: “There are lot of lads in the squad with children, I’m a father of three myself, and it definitely hits home what EACH do.
“We’ve had the chance to go down there and meet the children and staff in the past and it really will be an honour to play with their logo on our backs this year.
“Any help they need from the squad they will get it.”
Graham Butland, EACH chief executive, said he was thrilled to receive the support of the club.
He said: “This exciting partnership will undoubtedly be a boost to everyone involved with EACH and we look forward to working with Ipswich Town over the year and wish them every success on the pitch.”
The charity’s name will not appear on the ‘fans shirts’ but supporters will be able to buy a logo which will be applied by the club for an extra £2,50 - with all profits going to EACH.
They can be bought online or in-store from Tuesday July 25.
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