A commendable gesture
Newcastle United fans raised £5,000 for a local food bank as part of their boycott against the pay-per-view scheme introduced by the Premier League. After word got out about the gesture, that figure has now surpassed £16,000 and is still going.
Half the games that would previously have been broadcast on Sky Sports or BT Sport as part of the package viewers pay for already now cost an extra £14.95, which did not go down well with Premier League fans. It’s been a spectacular PR own goal for the Premier League, at a time when football’s relentless desire to eat itself alive through greed is already under the spotlight.
Newcastle’s game against Manchester United was one of those PPV matches on Saturday night, and while some fans forked out the money to see their team lose 4-1, many Geordies boycotted the scheme and donated the money they would have spent on the game to their local food bank instead.
It started with a plea from the NUFC Fans Food Bank’s Twitter account.
“We WON’T be watching it on PPV instead donating to the Newcastle West End Foodbank,” they tweeted on Saturday morning.
“£15 feeds 3 local families for a week, #CharityNotPPV.”
The same NUFC Fans Food Banks account then tweeted on Sunday morning that they had raised over £16,000.
“We are proud to announce that we – YOU – have donated & raised SIXTEEN THOUSAND POUNDs from the #CharityNotPPV campaign,” it announced.
“An absolutely incredible amount including £11,000 alone yesterday from over 1000 donators.
“Best fans in the world.”
Morning All #GenerousGeordies!
We are proud to announce that we – YOU – have donated & raised SIXTEEN THOUSAND POUNDs from the #CharityNotPPV campaign
An absolutely incredible amount including £11,000 alone yesterday from over 1000 donators.
Best fans in the world #NUFC 🙌🏁 https://t.co/fdtMHIYRxR pic.twitter.com/0Nxcikt8e2
— NUFC Fans Foodbank (@nufcfoodbank) October 18, 2020
On this evidence, it’s hard to disagree. What a momentous achievement.
If you would like to donate to their cause, click here and follow the steps.
