Heroes & Villains, the Aston Villa fanzine
Heroes & Villains => Heroes Discussion => Topic started by: Footballaid on January 14, 2011, 03:24:00 PM
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Hi Villa Fans
I am posting on behalf of football aid, a charity that aims to raise money by organising charity football matches around the country.
I'm sure that you'll agree that this is a great opportunity for Villans everywhere!
Bid to Play at Villa Park
Aston Villa have once again joined forces with Football Aid, allowing football fans the opportunity to play on the hallowed Villa Park turf of in 2011, while raising vital funds for charity at the same time.
Football Aid offers Villa fans the opportunity to Live the Dream of an authentic match day experience; to gain exclusive access to the pitch and tunnel areas, pull on their own personalised club shirt in the official changing rooms, walk down the tunnel to the sound of a cheering crowd and ultimately to step out onto their Field of Dreams and represent their club in a never to be forgotten 90 minute match.
The matches have been supported by a host of former players down the years, with the likes of Shaun Teale, Tony Daley, Tony Morley, Charlie Aiken and Mark Kinsella all lending their valuable experience by playing alongside or managing supporters.
Getting involved couldn’t be easier, our bidding period has just begun so just visit www.footballaid.com, select Aston Villa and your position, then place your bid – it really is that simple. And with starting bids for positions at just £170, booking a position could turn out to be the best bargain you’ll ever bag!
So if you're keen to secure your place on your Field of Dreams early why not visit www.footballaid.com. Alternatively if you’d like any additional information, you can call Football Aid on 0131 220 5999 or email info@footballaid.com.
Football Aid celebrated their 10th anniversary in 2010 and have allowed over 12,000 football fans the chance to Live the Dream in more than 420 matches. They are a groundbreaking organisation which generates funds annually by hosting charity football matches at iconic stadiums all over the UK. The unique concept was the brainchild of businessman and Football Aid Chairman Craig Paterson and funds raised from the event will benefit the work of a charitable project nominated by the club, as well as projects nominated by Football Aid’s parent charity Field of Dreams. Aston Villa’s nominated cause in 2010 was Acorns.
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Brilliant stuff, my brother and I took part in this 4 years ago. Hard to explain how amazing it is to play at VP, from start to finish a brilliant day. A day I will never forget, and all for a great cause too.
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Great stuff magic monks!
Glad you enjoyed it :)
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can someone lend me some boots..
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Daft question, but do you have to be any good? Or will having two functioning legs and a slightly unfit disposition do?
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I did this a couple of years ago. Utterly, utterly fantastic. Easily one of the greatest moments of my life so far. Highly recommended. Wish I could do it again.
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I played there a few years ago. I spent most of the first twenty minutes pinned in the corner I was defending! It's not until you play on it you realise how big the pitch actually is compared to a parks pitch.
It's great fun though and one of the best things I've ever done.
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Great idea I will spread the word amongst my mates and see what we can come up with!
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If only i wasn't a student!
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Couple of questions please. Does the money paid go directly to the nominated charity? What fees do the organisers take from the proceeds? How much of the total money actually goes to charities?
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Try here (http://www.footballaid.com/field-dreams).
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Thanks Leeg-but that only tells you the total-I guess I will have to go on the Charity Commission site (but it might not be possible to tell from this if their funding comes from different sources) but the issue is not how much is paid out but what is taken out on the way. i.e they could raise £5m but keep £3.5m in costs.
I am not suggesting they do but some of these schemes rake off very large proportions of funds. In effect you are raising more money for the fundraisers than the beneficiaries.
I will be happy to bid if this is made clear and it is reasonable.
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I did this a couple of years ago. Utterly, utterly fantastic. Easily one of the greatest moments of my life so far. Highly recommended. Wish I could do it again.
Don't suppose you'd disclose your bid price would you?
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I went for a fixed price position.
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I went for a fixed price position.
What was it if I may ask?
It seems there are only bid prices available.
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I honestly cannot remember. £450, I think.
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This (http://www.footballaid.com/news-match-reports/match-reports/701/2008-05-10/aston-villa-game-1-2008.html) was the match I played in. Got more than a half as one of the legends and one of the players failed to show.
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Daft question, but do you have to be any good? Or will having two functioning legs and a slightly unfit disposition do?
http://www.footballaid.com/gallery/image/aston+villa?page=21
You don't have to be any good I played in 2003! I was 45, very unfit, paid to play 2nd half only. Highlight was almost tackilng Tony Daley!
Back row next to keeper on the right - Colin Gibson was our "legend" plus Neil Rioch came on 2nd half as we were getting hammered about 11-1.
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Rogues gallery (http://www.everybodysmile.biz/cgi-bin/public.cgi?Id=60649)
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If only i wasn't fat and unfit and i hadn't had 4 operations on my knee i would loved to have played.
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Daft question, but do you have to be any good? Or will having two functioning legs and a slightly unfit disposition do?
http://www.footballaid.com/gallery/image/aston+villa?page=21
You don't have to be any good I played in 2003! I was 45, very unfit, paid to play 2nd half only.
You aren't Robert Pires are you? :-)
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Rogues gallery (http://www.everybodysmile.biz/cgi-bin/public.cgi?Id=60649)
Look at those grins ;-))))))
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First of all thanks for the really excellent words of support from those of you who've played in our games before, we're glad you enjoyed your experience!
We wanted to answer kipeye's question about the funds raised and how they are distributed: For those who might not know, all the profits from our games are donated to charitable projects, whether they are projects nominated by our parent charity Field of Dreams or those nominated by the club.
Like any non-profit organisation or charity we do have costs associated with organising our events and these include purchasing all the kits and footballs for the games, travel and accomodation costs and just like any other organisation we have staffing, admin and office costs as well. However we run a very tight ship, with all the members of our board being non-executive status and giving up their free time to help and advise, we have a very small core team employed full time, we rely on free marketing methods to promote our events, we often use volunteers to come along and help at our events, in addition all of the ex-players who come along to support our events do so free of charge unlike many other high profile charity matches.
All this allows us to donate a considerable percentage of the funds raised to charity projects and our auditors tell us this compares favourably to other charities who don't always advertise the costs that it involves to administer their organisations. Over £1,600,000 in total has been paid out or designated as payable to charities in the 10 years since Field of Dreams was established and thanks to the continued support of the many 100s of football fans who support us each year we hope to raise many thousands more in the coming years for the charities we support all over the UK.
As Legion helpfully pointed out the Field of Dreams charity pages on our website have further details of some of our major grant awards for those of you interested in the specific charities we've supported over the years.
Just to say thanks again to anybody who's supported us over the years and good luck to anybody bidding this season!