Bob Piper has been a Labour Councillor for the Abbey
Ward in Sandwell, West Midlands, for 10 years. He is a lifelong supporter of Aston Villa Football Club and a follower of Yorkshire County Cricket Club.
The views expressed here are mine in a personal capacity, not those of the Labour Party, Sandwell MBC, Aston Villa or Yorkshire County Cricket Club. Get it! Mine... just mine!
Promoted by Bob Piper of 115 Barclay Rd, B67 5JZ on behalf of the Labour Party, care of 39 Victoria Street London, SW1H 0HA . Hosted (printed) by Swaithe Internet Solutions who are not responsible for any of the contents of these posts.
Please note however, that The Labour Party is not responsible for the content of this website or individual posts as, unless specifically stated, I am writing solely in a personal and individual capacity.
Promoted by Bob Piper of 115 Barclay Rd, B67 5JZ on behalf of the Labour Party, care of 39 Victoria Street London, SW1H 0HA . Hosted (printed) by Swaithe Internet Solutions who are not responsible for any of the contents of these posts.
Please note however, that The Labour Party is not responsible for the content of this website or individual posts as, unless specifically stated, I am writing solely in a personal and individual capacity.
Now don't get me wrong, I admire the sentiment, but what is this deal all about? The club are not giving the hospice anything as far as I can see. No-one is going to choose this particular hospice just because they have seen the name on a footie shirt, and they don't get a percentage of shirt sales, although from some accounts both Villa and Nike are likely to benefit from any increased shirt sales. Surely if the club had accepted the filthy lucre from a multi-national company - for instance Cadbury's based in Birmingham - and then handed over the couple of million quid to the hospice, that would have been a much better deal?
Your point seems very reasonable to me. If Villa asked Cadbury's to pay the charity directly rather than put the cash through Villa's books wouldn't there be a tax refund for the Hospice on top of that?
Mick Davies said:
June 5, 2008 10:14 AM | permalink
Bob perhaps the Villa should look at he sponsorship arrangement that Barca have with UNICEF,where the Club actually pay UNICEF something like 1.5million euros a year plus players becoming involved in loads of fund raising activities.I also think that players give a percentage of their salaries to charities in general.
Paul Sandars said:
June 5, 2008 10:57 AM | permalink
Mick- it would be good if the likes of Manchester United or Chelsea did what Barcelona- like a county cricket club, a mutually owned members' organisation- did.
Bob, when your council uses anti terror laws to spy on its residents' phone calls and emails. How does it vet the staff that are allowed to access this delicate information and how and where is the gathered data stored?
1. I don't agree they should waste their time nor the money of the people of Sandwell in this way.
2. Believe it or not the Officers of the Council don't actually ask me before they do this sort of thing, and if they did I would refer them to answer 1. above.
June 4, 2008 10:55 PM | permalink
Er... Don't you think that the hospice will be able to raise more money as a result of the publicity?