Bringing Aycliffe Business Park Together | 29
DID YOU KNOW?
“We think this gives firms a great
chance to get involved without breaking
the bank – there’s a top prize up for
grabs, but every business which buys in
is guaranteed to win something.
”
The initiative is being backed by Sedgefield
MP Phil Wilson and local business including
SCH Site Services, Stiller Warehousing and
Distribution and Finley Structures.
SCH Site Services provided the steel for a
new stand at Moore Lane Park three years
ago which enabled the club to gain promotion
to the Northern League first division.
Mr Finley said: “I think this is a fantastic
initiative by Newton Aycliffe FC and a great
way for businesses to support their local
football club, but also to get something for
their money at the same time.
“We’ve always been big supporters of the
club and we think it’s important for local firms
to do their bit.
“Aycliffe’s success in recent years has been
phenomenal, but with that success comes
the added expense of running a club at a top
non-league level, and I’ve always been hugely
impressed by the army of volunteers who
give up their time to help run it.
“Supporting local sport is a nice to do, but
there is also great satisfaction from investing
a little and helping to play your part.
”
The 2014-15 season will be Aycliffe’s fourth
consecutive campaign in the Ebac Northern
League first division.
Mr Wilson, the club’s President and MP for
Sedgefield, said: “From a business point of
view this is a no-brainer.
“We’re asking for firms to donate what is
a nominal amount of money, but they get
something in return for that investment
regardless of whether they win the rights to
the ground or not.
“But if they win it, of course, it’s a fantastic
opportunity for local firms to increase the
awareness of their company to a big regional
market.
”
Another Aycliffe firm, Ebac, the manufacturers
of dehumidifiers and chest freezers, has seen
the benefits of investing in local sport by
sponsoring the Northern League.
The naming rights to Aycliffe’s ground would
bring positive and regular coverage in the local
media as well other additional spin-offs.
But there are a number of other corporate
packages available with Aycliffe, including shirt
sponsorships.
Chairman Allan Oliver, who runs his own
concrete reinforcing business, said: “This is a
critical time of the year for Northern League
clubs and we’re always looking for ways
of engaging more with the local business
community.
“We think this gives firms a great chance
to get involved without breaking the bank
– there’s a top prize up for grabs, but every
business which buys in is guaranteed to win
something.
“Our kits are also currently available for
sponsorship, and they enable firms to
increase brand awareness to a wide audience
across the whole of the North, with our team
travelling to well-known clubs in the Tyneside,
Wearside, Teesside and Cumbria areas as well
as on their doortstep in County Durham.
”
Firms who take out shirt sponsorship and
pitchside perimeter advertising boards at
Aycliffe are automatically entered into the
stadium rebranding draw.
To get involved with the club, call General
Manager Dan Lewis on 07581 784726 or
email djl@thesoccerfactoryltd.co.uk
Northern League Chairman
Mike Amos gives a brief
overview of the league…
The Ebac Northern League is the world’s
second oldest, after the Football League
itself, and in semi-professional football
one of the most prominent and most
successful.
We celebrated our 125th anniversary last
season.
Formed at a meeting in the Three Tuns
Hotel in Durham on March 25 1889, the
league at once embraced a region from
Tyne to Tees and now extends from
Alnwick in the north to Northallerton in
the south, and from the east coast across
to Whitehaven and Carlisle. In the 1890s
we even included Sheffield United.
Our clubs won the old Amateur Cup on 21
occasions before its withdrawal in 1974
and in more recent times have enjoyed
unrivalled success in the successor
competition, the FA Vase, and our clubs
have been victorious at Wembley in
each of the last five seasons and on nice
occasions since 1997
.
Our 45 teams are a mix of famous, long
established clubs like Bishop Auckland,
Crook Town and Whitley Bay and newer
clubs like Newton Aycliffe.
Many, Newton Aycliffe included, have
progressed rapidly from local league
football to the very high standard offered
in the Northern League.
That Newton Aycliffe have reached the
first division so quickly, and continue
effectively to compete there, says a great
deal about the club and the dedicated
hard work of the volunteers who run it.
The league is also much indebted to very
generous sponsorship from Ebac, based
in Aycliffe, and equally grateful for the
innovative and ever-positive interest of
John Elliott, Ebac’s chairman. It helps us
retain a proud and seldom-questioned
position as first among equals at this level
of football.
Mike Amos
Chairman, Northern League