Chelsea FC-‘Right to Play’ Partnership Offers Mascot Position for Charity
Chelsea FC-‘Right to Play’ Partnership Offers Mascot Position for Charity
Chelsea Football Club is offering the ultimate ‘fan’ experience to those who love the Blues…for one lucky bidder to ‘Be the Official Mascot Once-in-a-Lifetime Experience’ with 100% of the proceeds to benefit Right To Play.
International humanitarian organization, Right To Play, recently sealed the six-year exclusive partnership to be Chelsea Football Club’s first ever Global Charity Partner. …the Chelsea-Right To Play partnership is aims to raise in excess of £2 million over six years. The funding generated will support Right To Play’s extensive humanitarian operations in 22 countries in Asia, Africa and the Middle East.
Right To Play President and CEO, Johann Olav Koss said: “This partnership is a celebration of Chelsea FC’s commitment to charitable organizations. We are delighted to be a partner of one of the world’s most prestigious football clubs and fastest growing global brands.” Continue reading
Right to Play With Dignity
Right to Play With Dignity
So…the NBA ‘lock-out’ continues with the first few weeks of the NBA season being canned, the commish is asking fans to focus on Euro games, players are tweeting like its their last day on earth, scrambling to resolve the matter even though they were told a year before the lockout not to spend their money on lavish trip to Vegas, but to hoard it. That’s a fact…so where is the dignity?
While I don’t support either side of the NBA lock-out situation, I feel that everyone has the Right to Play-as in ‘Right To Play’, the leading international humanitarian and development organization using the transformative power of sport and play to build essential skills in children and thereby drive social change in communities affected.
With support from all corners of the world-including Jordan, Lebanon, Uganda, Liberia, Rwanda, and the UK-Right to Play could school any organization on dignity and mutual respect for humanity and I dare any NBA locked-out player to take aim at something higher than Ego-games in their free time.
Why not do something dignified during the lockout and volunteer with Right to Play or any other non-profit? Take a ball to the local court and use sport to make a positive impact on the kids…the positive impact sport has on refugee children, former child combatants, children living with a disability, and young people at risk or orphaned by HIV, AIDS or war is astonishing.
Ballers, you could change and improve the world if ya just shifted your focus from yourselves to others.
On October 20th, Right To Play will participate in Global Dignity Day, to advocate that everyone have the right to a dignified life-and I challenge the NBA to join most of the humanity loving world to participate in Global Dignity Day. Read more about it HERE…amazing organization whose honorary board members include: President Martti Ahtisaari (Former President of Finland, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, United Nations diplomat and mediator); Sir Richard Branson, Professor Amartya Sen (Nobel Price laureate in Economic Sciences, Professor of Economics and Philosophy at Harvard University), Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu and Andrew Young (Former Congressman and United States Ambassador to the United Nations, Activist in the Civil Rights Movement)
To conquer oneself is a greater task than conquering others ~ Buddha
As always, thanks for reading~
delinda@athlebrities.com
Right To Play Soccer
Soccer Babes With A Splash of Tonic Please
Luca-Toni-Peppe-Roni: Honestly, I’m not entirely sure what this is all about, but it’s Luca Toni and it’s Friday and I get to have fun on my blog…Bayern Munich’s sexy Italian striker Luca Toni (L) played ‘table football’ on the world’s largest table against comedian Matze Knop® at the “f.re.e” travel and leisure trade fair in Munich. Seems that Toni is representing Italy at the stand…that’s about all I can figure out about the ‘event’ but it did lead me to this ridiculous video where Knop performs his latest single ‘Numero Uno,’ a bizarre and embarrassing tribute to ‘Luca Toni, pepperoni’…
The Beautiful Game for All
While we have fun with our soccer babes, it’s important to remember the children around the world who don’t get the chance to play the beautiful game. Recently, there was a soccer tournament in Juba (Sudan), which was used to reach out to an entire generation of children who have been traumatized by the civil war. Although the war ended four-years ago, more than half the kids didn’t finish their primary education…as we know, they’ve all got a Right to Play, so let’s not forget to help.
The Right to Play World Cup is planned to take place at Stamford Bride May 22. If you’re like me, then the following info should warm your bones like a topless David Beckham or a knee-sliding post-goal Drogba…
- The Right To Play World Cup is a unique opportunity to live that dream and play on the hallowed turf of one of the world’s biggest football clubs whilst supporting a global sport for development charity working in 23 countries across the globe. We believe that when children play, the world wins! It’ll be a chance for you and 9 of your colleagues to live out your playground fantasies while supporting the valuable work we do with young people around the world. When: Friday 22nd May. Where: Stamford Bridge, Chelsea FA full 5 a-side footy tournament on the pitch with full pitch finals. Form a team of 10 colleagues and compete for the title of Right To Play World Champs. Why: Enjoy a once-in-life time experience of playing at this famous stadium and support the Right To Play aims of providing sport and play programs to vulnerable children. Chelsea Quiz Evening – The World Cup will be followed by an evening’s entertainment at the stadium, with a sports quiz and exclusive sporting prizes.
Basically, you get to play at Stamford Bridge and party like a rock-star with the players while supporting a damn good cause. While I’m not really into running on the field, I’d make an amazing cheerleader or towel girl, so pa-lease, take me with you. RIGHT TO PLAY.
STOP IT
David Beckham can play anywhere he wants…AC Milan or the Galaxy-I don’t care…but good gawd Beck’s…for the love of soccer, stop taking your shirt off and causing me to revert to ‘huh’ instead of ‘charity’.
As always, thanks for reading. Delinda@athlebrities.com
Football Charities Ain’t Got Nothing on Futbol Charities
Football Charities Ain’t Got Nothing on Futbol (Soccer) Charities
Go ahead…enjoy the SuperBowl. Yes, there are tons of charity related NFL par-tays going on…but to me, most seem a bit insincere and more geared towards great ‘photo-ops.’ Of course there are exceptions, however, my (football) SuperBowl isn’t about helmets and hot-spots, it’s about voodoo, balls that unify, kids, and some mighty-mighty-fine men.
One of the greatest things about soccer is the global culture that surrounds it. While most of us dislike hooligans, their absence would leave a gaping hole in the stadiums and a lot of ‘police’ outta jobs. Make shift hooligan jails are a staple at World Cup qualifiers and games, so I was really, really bummed to hear RadioShack has bowed out of sponsoring a Mexican newspapers promotion which would have undoubtedly filled a few hooligan-tanks to capacity when they figured out it didn’t work…Mexico is set to play their World Cup Qualifier against the U.S. on February 11…Mexico has not beaten the U.S. on American soil in 10 years (and they wont do it anytime soon), so…an advertisement in the sports daily ‘Record’ invited fans to clip coupons and redeem them at their local Radio Shack store for a voodoo-doll likeness of a U.S. player. The hope was that a little black magic might help Mexico break a decade of futility on the road versus its northern neighbor. (AP photo) An illustration showed a pair of scissors slicing off the leg of a doll in a U.S. jersey; the doll grimaced in pain with its arms covered in bruises, as stuffing leaked from its No. 10 jersey, stuck with pushpins. The newspaper was hoping that soccer fans would watch the match and “apply punishments to our rivals,” giving Mexico an edge to end a decade of winless play versus the Americans on U.S. soil. “Help end the losing streak so Mexico advances,” the ad read.
If voodoo did work the way I’d like it too, I would win the lottery. No, I wouldn’t buy myself a house, or a new car…wouldn’t dare purchase a Prada, pair Jimmy Choo’s or any other pricey luxury good to make myself feel worthy…the first thing I would do? Join the Great Football Give Away…last November, a group of volunteers traveled to some of the most rural parts of Uganda and hand delivered over 3,000 soccer balls and netballs to the kids. And who says money can’t buy love? The organization is teaming up with Alive and Kicking to buy their Zambian made balls which have aids and malaria awareness messages printed on them…they’re using them to spread awareness about malaria-which is the number one killer in the country…And here’s where my lotto winnings would come into play…the Great Football Giveaway is looking for volunteers to organize and run future projects. If you can take a 4-6 month career break, they’ll help you with all the details-including fundraising, project management, putting a team together and hand-delivering the balls yourself to kids in some of the poorest countries of the world…I want to do this BAD so if anyone out there wants my beach front house for four-to-six months while paying for me to travel to Africa and pass out soccer balls to the kids, let me know. (And yes, I’m dead serious.)
Another one of my favorite charity organizations, Right To Play, earned a massive donation from Zdano Chara (Boston Bruins) after winning the NHL’s Hardest Shot Competition at the All Star Weekend in Montreal on January 24th…the mighty fine beast won the competition with an All-Star Record of 105.4MPH and then promptly donated his winnings- $24,000- to Right To Play…too bad the IOC can’t think out side the box…(Wow, Delinda is having a flashback to all the hate-emails I got after ripping the IOC a new one last year…hope ya’all paying attention now.)
“Excluding the athlete-founded, athlete-driven Right To Play from the Athlete’s Village is a firm step backward for the Olympic movement. Right to Play is a humanitarian organization that uses sport to teach children about teamwork, fair play, conflict resolution, self-esteem, communication, commitment, respect and integrity. We firmly believe that this organization improves the lives of children by strengthening their vulnerable communities with the best practices of sport and play. And it creates opportunities to promote development, health and peace. I believe this act of exclusion violates the fundamental values of the Olympic movement.” Adam Kreek, Olympic Rowing Gold Medalist 2008, London, Ont.
What makes me really, really sad-is that this incredibly moving and poignant video has been posted on YouTube for over a year and has only been viewed 3,225 times. What a sad commentary on society…in any case, we may be able to help change that by coming up with a catchy moniker to grab some media attention for them. RTP is running a competition to highlight the studly attempt of a student by the name of Duncan Drew, who will try to run 30 MARATHONS IN THIRTY DAYS this August to benefit Right To Play. This is a world record attempt and will be receiving a lot of media attention…so help ‘em out by coming up with a catchy phrase to garner as much attention as possible for this event. The more support Duncan gets, the happier the disadvantaged children in Africa, Asia and the Middle East will be. What should they call it?
As always, thanks for reading. Delinda@athlebrities.com
Michael Phelps’ Final Lap for Charity, Right to Play at Olympics, And an Inspiring Baseball Book for Kids
TWENTY SECONDS
Yesterday, five members of Students for a Free Tibet lit up the skies near the National Stadium and spelled out ‘Free Tibet’ with blue LED lights in English and Mandarin. It took the police just 20-seconds to intervene…three other protestors were detained as they attempted to use lasers to spell out ‘Free Tibet’ on a Beijing landmark. Students for a Free Tibet Exec Dir Lhadon Tethong said “more actions were planned” in Beijing in the coming days…(NY Times).
PHELPS TAKES LAP FOR CHARITY
While protestors were busy raising awareness for Tibet, Michael Phelps enjoyed meeting some of our NBA’s hotties before taking his final lap-number 6,250- of the ‘Hilton Swim to Beijing Relay.’ The charitable event contributed $100,000 to the USA Swimming Foundation to fund swim education programs across the U.S. Hilton Hotels is one of Phelps’ sponsors, and in celebration of the Olympics, they partnered with the USA Swimming Foundation with each of the 6,250 laps symbolizing one of the miles between Los Angeles, the relay’s starting point, and Beijing.
“After representing my country and competing in the Olympics, Hilton gave me another great reason to get back in the pool,” said Phelps. “By being a part of this campaign I’m able to help support swim education programs across the nation and give young people the chance to experience the power of the sport. Swimming is much more than a fun activity and great form of exercise. It teaches self-discipline and dedication—two important qualities that one can draw on to succeed both in and out of the pool.”
More love came from the Olympians yesterday as more than a dozen current and former athletes hit up the corporate hospitality pavilion to support the Right to Play. The humanitarian organization landed heavily on the map after the 06 Turin Games when speed skater Joey Cheek donated his bonus money to them. This time, its different though- thanks to IOC sponsor Johnson & Johnson, donations are being made on behalf of the athletes. J&J is donating $20,000 per gold medal, $15,000 per silver and $10,000 per bronze won by those who have signed up to be Right to Play athlete ambassadors. “There has been a lot of criticism for having the Olympic games here,” said U.S. swimmer Natalie Coughlin, “but it has made a wider audience aware of issues that they otherwise might not have known about.” (Coughlin with her six medals won here, is responsible for $80,000 for the organization.) Any athlete can become an ambassador, yet only about 40 Olympians representing 13 countries and 25 sports have signed up, notably absent as an ambassador for Right to Play? Michael Phelps.
Coughlin said she spoke to Phelps about it last week in the Olympic Village, “He wants to do it,” Coughlin said. “He’s going to do it. I have mentioned to him that his eight gold medals would mean 52,000 children would be enrolled in the program and 1,600 coaches would be able to get involved.” If Phelps does indeed become an ambassador, it would bring a whopping $160,000 donation from J&J to Right to Play.
FOR THE KIDS
Ya’ all know I don’t cover many baseball related events, but there is a little book coming out that I gotta give props to. The book, ‘A Glove of Their Own’ has already got some endorsement love from several players: Craig Biggio, Sean Casey and Jack Hannahan have all stepped up to support the children’s book aimed at teaching kids the value of sharing what you have with those in need. Charity partners include Good Sports, Sports Gift, Pitch In For Baseball, Make-A-Wish Foundation, Cheerful Givers, and the Sunshine Foundation. From the back cover: “Few things in life are ever as good as the smell of your own glove, the crack of the wood. Or being with friends at that one special spot and sharing what you have… with those who have not.” The picture book personifies the “paying it forward” mentality via a group of underprivileged boys’ childhood experience, and how their love of the game is not defined by the equipment they don’t have but rather the passion and dreams that they do have. The book was inspired by a birthday party held for one of the writers’ kids- in place of gifts, guests were asked to donate baseball equipment for children who normally do without. A Glove of Their Own comes out in October, and those wishing to get their hands on a copy need to reserve now! Go to the website to reserve your copy.
Like what you read? Subscribe to my RSS feed for daily email updates! (link on top right)
As always, thanks for reading.
Delinda Lombardo
delinda@athlebrities.com