Bid for your team's poppy football shirt !
02 December 2009
2009 looks like being a record year for support of the Poppy Appeal by football teams. Most of the Premier League clubs wore poppies during their early November games and many have arranged collections at matches. And auctioning matchday shirts is proving to be a great success!
Chelsea
Chelsea Football Club went all out to support the Poppy Appeal and mark Remembrance Sunday this year at their match against Manchester United. The team were all wearing commemorative shirts with embroidered poppies for the match and these have been auctioned in support of the Poppy Appeal.
All around Stamford Bridge 50 members of the Armed Forces collected for the Poppy Appeal, raising over £9,500. A Guard of honour comprising of Chelsea Pensioners and serving members of the Armed Forces marched onto the pitch with the teams and observed a minutes silence.
John Terry and Joe Cole have spoken on behalf of the squad in backing the Appeal. "We want the veterans to have the recognition and support they fully deserve," said Terry. "They're the people who are putting their lives on the line for us."
Cole added: "The Poppy Appeal is a great way for people to get involved. Chelsea are right behind it and if there is a good cause to get behind this is the one."
Chelsea Football Club donated a number of their commemorative shirts used in Sunday's 8 November Premier League game against Manchester United to The Royal British Legion to help raise funds for the Poppy Appeal. The shirts have a special poppy embroidered on the front. Winner of the auction has first choice (from available shirts) which number shirt they win. One shirt per winner. The auction took place on eBay and is now over. The highest bid was £2,500.
Tottenham
As part of the Club's support for The Royal British Legion and the Poppy Appeal campaign, first team match shirts, worn in the Barclays Premier League fixture against Sunderland, each featured a Poppy. Auctioning of the shirts has raised over £32,000 with the highest bid of £2,500 for Ledley King's shirt.
West Bromwich Albion
West Brom FC held a bucket collection and local military students were on hand to assist. The 'baggies' wore their poppy shirts alongside Leicester for the game on Saturday 7 November and these have been auctioned (no results yet). In 2008, they raised over £10k for the Poppy Appeal.
Arsenal
Arsenal Football Club marked Remembrance Sunday – honouring those Service men and women who gave their lives for peace – with the entire Arsenal team wearing a special one-off shirt with a poppy embroidered into the Club's blue away shirt at the Gunners' 4-1 win against Wolverhampton Wanderers at Molineux.
Since the match at the start of the November, the Club has initiated a number of different auctions for the signed shirts worn by the Arsenal players during the match. These auctions were placed on eBay, Arsenal.com as well as Arsenal TV Online. Lucky eBay users were given the opportunity to bid for the shirts Cesc Fabregas, William Gallas, Eduardo and Manuel Almunia, with the overall total raised from these four items reaching an incredible £8,220.
With the success of these shirts, the Club is now looking to list further items on the online auction facility with a combined donation of Vito Mannone (Arsenal) and Segundo Castillo (Wolverhampton Wanderers) soon to be listed.
The Arsenal.com silent auction, giving bidding options for both members and non-members, added over £5,500 to the total for Robin van Persie and Andrey Arshavin's treasured tops, with Abou Diaby's shirt being auctioned on the Arsenal TV Online Friday Night Live programme, raising £825.
There are still a number of Arsenal signed shirts from the Wolves match to be auctioned, so please keep close to www.arsenal.com for news on where these can be found.
West Ham
The special Remembrance Day shirts worn by West Ham United first team in the Barclays Premier League match against Everton were auctioned on eBay. Bidding has now closed.
Burnley
Their club shirt auction raised over £6,500.
Wigan
Visit their website for the link to their online auction service.
Liverpool
The shirts worn by Liverpool players against Birmingham City on Monday are now up for auction for the Poppy Appeal. Each player has autographed his shirt - and you can now submit your bid in writing.
Available shirts: Reina, Johnson, Agger, Riera, Benayoun, Kuyt, Mascherano, Lucas, Insua, Ngog, Skrtel, Cavalieri, Aquilani, Gerrard, Kyrgiakos, Babel, Spearing, Darby
Sealed bids should be marked Liverpool FC Shirt Auction and sent to:
The Royal British Legion
14 St James Court
Wilderspool Causeway
Warrington
Cheshire WA4 6PS
Include your contact details, your bid and the name of the player whose shirt you are bidding for. Please do not send cheques. You will be informed if your bid is successful. The closing date for bids will be Friday 11 December 2009.
Stoke City
Three shirts from the match Stoke City played at Hull on 1 November have been auctioned on eBay (bidding has closed) and the others were auctioned at the Chairman's Ball on Friday 27 November.
Sunderland
Sunderland players wore unique 'poppy' shirts in the game against West Ham at the Stadium of Light. The shirts have been signed by individual players and were available on the online auction site Ebay. Proceeds will support both the Poppy Appeal and the Sunderland AFC Foundation.
Birmingham City
Birmingham City FC helped promote the Poppy Appeal, live on Sky TV and later on BBC 2 Match of the Day, with a giant poppy appeared on the pitch with four members of Army, Navy, RAF and Royal Marines marching it on and with a minute silence. Logo on the front of programme and a page inside. Football Players wore shirts with a poppy which were auctioned on the club website (sorry it closed on 9 November).
Manchester City
Manchester City FC is auctioning the shirts worn for game against Burnley on Saturday 7th November. Each shirt featured the poppy emblem and was auctioned through sealed bids. 15 shirts were auctioned for a total of over £11,000. The highest bid was £2782 for a single shirt and the lowest winning bid was £300.
Yeovil Town
The Glovers are also showing their support for the Poppy Appeal by wearing a special playing strip at the match against Southend United on Saturday 14 November 2009. Each of the shirts worn by the squad will be embroidered with a poppy to make them unique souvenirs and they will be auctioned off after the game. Bidding closes 30 November.
