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Bradford City AFC will host its first-ever Community Takeover Day on Saturday 23rd November, as the city of Bradford gathers to celebrate the work of the club’s charitable arm, the Bradford City FC Community Foundation.
The Bradford City FC Community Foundation team.
The day will be marked by a series of events showcasing the Foundation’s work in the city. A parade around the University of Bradford Stadium pitch at half-time will see hundreds of people from across the city, including pupils from local schools, competition winners, rising stars from local junior clubs, attendees from social outreach groups and many more, united in celebrating the impact the Foundation has had, and continues to have. Click here to meet the team.
As the parade takes place, Foundation CEO and former City striker Ian Ormondroyd will deliver a speech from the middle of the pitch.
The capacity opening of the TL Dallas Community Stand, which will house nearly 1500 attendees from across the Foundation’s projects, programmes and partners, will cheer on the Bantams. A joint venture between the Foundation, Club and long-time Club sponsor TL Dallas and Co Ltd., the stand is now a dedicated, alcohol-free community stand which welcomes non-typical, usually first-time fans from areas of high social deprivation to The University of Bradford Stadium.
Young and first-time fans benefit from the Community Ticket scheme, which enables local organisations to watch the Bantams at a reduced cost, with the aim of fostering connections with the Club among atypical or new football fans.
The Bradford City FC Community Foundation, which was established in 1988 by the PFA, and has been under the stewardship of former City, Aston Villa and Leicester City star Ian Ormondroyd since 1999. It will now celebrate its inaugural Takeover day, as the Club and Foundation align to spread the word about the Foundation’s work.
Now celebrating his 25th year at the helm, Ormondroyd said: “We are grateful to the Club for giving us the opportunity to celebrate our work, front and centre, in the unique atmosphere of a City home game. Since establishing ourselves as the official charity of the club, and seeing our organisation expand from a handful of staff to a large operation which delivers sporting and non-sporting programmes and projects across the city, we are proud to have become a key cog in the Bradford system."
Foundation CEO Ian Ormondroyd recently celebrated his 25th year at the organisation.
"The Takeover Day is our chance to celebrate all we have already achieved, and to establish further connections and awareness among the City fanbase and members of the local community, as we continue to grow in size and influence.”
In the past year alone, the Foundation has worked with over 23,000 participants, across 44 individual projects. Among these was the establishment of a dedicated food bank, alongside partners Penny Appeal, BCAFC and BCAFC Women and Girls, and local business Bradford Lifts; the opening of a dementia and Parkinson’s-friendly Friendship Cafe which runs weekly; numerous social action and awareness campaigns; and ongoing national campaigns run in conjunction with the Premier League, National Citizen Service and the Peer Action Collective.
The Foundation also oversees the running of Bradford City AFC’s Women and Girls and Disability football teams. It runs its own in-house education provision, allowing students to combine their studies with football, and is running the newly-opened Bantams Clubhouse, a dedicated junior fanzone.
Young Bantams are welcomed at the Foundation's Bantams Clubhouse, hosted at BEAP Community Partnership, before every City home league game.
Bradford City AFC CEO, Ryan Sparks, said: “Our dedicated Community Takeover fixture at the University of Bradford Stadium will highlight the importance of the Club’s impact in the local and wider communities. Its aim is to showcase the incredible, vital work the Foundation undertakes every single day as the official charity of Bradford City AFC. We work closely, together, to ensure we carry out our duties as key stakeholders in the city of Bradford.”
The Foundation is running numerous events to mark the day, including:
The capacity opening of their dedicated TL Dallas Community Stand, which will house nearly 1500 attendees from across the Foundation’s projects, programmes and partners
A warm-up shirt design competition, with City players wearing a shirt which was designed by a pupil from a local school, and chosen from over 1,000 entries, before the game
Foundation staff will lead hundreds of attendees on a parade around the pitch, 200 of whom received free tickets as the winning school in the shirt design competition.
Competition winners will be walking out with City stars as mascots, and welcoming them onto the pitch as flagbearers in a guard of honour
A social media competition for all attendees at the game, who share a photo of themselves at the match, tag the Foundation’s accounts, and use the hashtag #CommunityTakeover
CEO Ian Ormondroyd shall take to the pitch at half-time to address the crowd.
Davide Longo, Bradford City AFC’s Chief Commercial Officer, said: “It’s imperative that the Club and Foundation are working in collaboration, so together we can build a thriving and inclusive community, where everyone can grow, flourish and prosper, now and in the future. Providing matchday opportunities such as this initiative can only benefit children and young people by enriching their lives in a positive way.”
Local organisations are invited to join us for the Community Takeover day, and every BCAFC home league Saturday fixture, via our Community Tickets scheme. Full details on the scheme and how to reserve tickets can be found here.
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