A growing Moray girls football club has been landed a sponsorship deal with trade union Unison.
Elgin-based Moray Girls Football Club (MGFC) said it was “amazing” to be able to kit the team out in full strips.
Set up in 2009, the club has a number of teams playing from under 10s to under 16s right across the north of Scotland – and since Covid, membership is growing.
The Moray branch of Unison said it had given a “lot of thought” about how to raise awareness of the important of trade unions to the younger generation.
When the idea of supporting the local football team was suggested to the committee, it was unanimously agreed.
A spokesman for Unison Moray said “they were thrilled” to be sponsoring MGFC, adding: “As a branch, we were keen to support a Moray wide charity.
“By supporting MGFC we are reaching young females throughout Moray who can benefit from knowledge of the trade union movement and share this with their wider friends and family.”
‘Just being able to give them all a game strip was amazing for us’
Secretary of Moray Girls Football Club, Alison Leslie said: “The sponsorship is really good for us, because we’ve been growing over the last three to four years. Before Covid, we probably had about just under 30 girls and now we’re up at 70 girls.
“So just being able to give them all a game strip was amazing for us. It’s quite a lot of money to purchase for such a small charity like ourselves, but it’s just been amazing to have that.”
When asked if being sponsored by a trade union risks the club’s neutrality on political and social issues, Mrs Leslie said: “We’re not tied to anything like that due to them [players] being younger, but if it works for them, then we’re quite happy as a club to help support girls’ rights, women’s rights and everybody’s rights, so it’s good for that.”
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