As England’s players prepare for the World Cup, two of the country’s top football writers have teamed up with The New Football Pools to donate £1,000 to The Teenage Cancer Trust.
Daily Star national football writer, Danny Fullbrook, and The Football Writers’ Association Chairman, Steve Bates from The People, are joint winners of the April/May Football Writers’ Premier 10 Mini League. Both winning writers have now left for South Africa, and will be reporting back from the tournament.
Danny has previously won the competition twice during the 2009-10 season, but this is the first success Steve has enjoyed. Both have decided to pool their winnings and donate the full sum to the Teenage Cancer Trust, a charity dedicated to improving the lives of teenagers and young adults with cancer.
Throughout the season, The New Football Pools has given away £10,000 in charity prize money through the FWA Mini League winners, donating to organizations such as the NSPCC, Childline, The Starlight Children’s Foundation and Regenerate UK.
Upon taking a third top spot in the league, Danny said: “I’m delighted once again to be top of the table, this time jointly with Steve, as it means another charity can benefit. All of the guys involved with The New Football Pools Predictions Mini League have made it an enjoyable and very competitive season, with plenty of banter – there has been everything to play for!”
Steve was also happy with his top of the table finish. He said: “I am so pleased to have finally made it to the top of the league; it’s fantastic to be finishing the season with a victory! It’s great that so many charities have benefited from our competition, and our thanks go to the New Football Pools for their continued generosity.”
Alice Watts, Teenage Cancer Trust London Regional Appeals Executive was delighted to receive the donation: “It’s a great privilege to be benefiting from The New Football Pools and The Football Writers’ Association Mini League. We are so grateful to Danny Fullbrook and Steve Bates for choosing to support Teenage Cancer Trust with this fantastic £1,000 donation. Every day in the UK, six young people are told they have cancer and we aim to provide every young person fighting cancer in the UK with the best possible medical care in an environment tailored to their needs. Supporters like Danny and Steve enable us to do this and we are so grateful for their donation.”
In total, eight national football writers have competed in the Premier 10 Football Pools Predictions game for the 2009-10 season, vying to become the winner of their Predictions Mini League. National journalists such as Patrick Barclay from The Times, Des Kelly from The Daily Mail and Shaun Custis from The Sun have been playing The New Football Pools to accumulate points for predicting the correct scores of football matches each month.
Each week, the writers submitted their predictions of either a home win, away win, or a draw for the ten Premier League fixtures, over the course of the month. The overall monthly winners were then determined by the highest cumulative score, and received a cheque from the Football Pools to present to a charity of their choice.
The Football Writers’ Charity League is just one the charitable initiatives that The New Football Pools has been supporting in 2010. These include a partnership with the Premier League supporting the Premier Health scheme which helps to improve men’s health facilities in deprived areas of the UK, and the Every Player Counts scheme in partnership with The Football League which enables 40 football clubs across the country to engage with disability within football. Since being founded in 1923, The Football Pools has donated over £1.1 billion to good causes.