By Wojciech Andrzejczak
European Football Coach
Since, I Coach in Poland this is pretty unique perspective. I enclose a presentation of promotional activities from 2010 of my team, Fireballs Wielkopolska. I was LB Coach/Defensive Assistant and GM of the team .
A brief background :
-Fireballs Wielkopolska were the second oldest football franchise in the country founded in 2004 .
-That season we were playing in PLFA 2 -Division 2. Team’s goal was to advance to the PLFA 1. If you win the Div2 Title you advance .
-Football has been growing in Poland rapidly for nearly a decade yet we are still not as popular as soccer, volleyball or basketball – therefore it is hard to get a sponsor.
-Fireballs played all the games in Poznan, capital city of the state of Wielkopolska and we had a cross town rival, Kozly Poznan – a Division 1 team. The city grants public funds to club teams and because of our Division 2 status, we received less money.
Therefore, we had to think outside the box :
The club had three major sources of financing the season:
· What was your best fundraising activity?
– Public grants we have received funding from the City of Poznan to finance game day expenses/ travels etc., which totaled about $3000.
-We have created a “Young Winners” initiative which was targeted toward local teenagers. It’s aim was to build character by practicing football with our team.
We have partnered with the Poznan Youth Correction Center and The Poznan University of Physical Education. With the help of players we conducted numerous (free) flag football practices for kids who stayed in the city during summer holidays. We received for this project around $4000 .
– We have partnered with Allegro – the biggest e-trade platform in Central Europe. We had their logo on our jerseys while flags and other promotional materials were distributed throughout the community.
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– We have also participated in several events concerts – the local Potato Festival or St Martin’s Day Parade, the annual Spring Brake Parade and Family Day at Krzesiny Air Base (F-16).
-And at other sporting events we served as a “supporting cast” – the soccer game of local team Warta Poznan, the MMA Gala (hosted by World Class Strong Man Mariusz Pudzianowski), and a Beach Volleyball Tournament .
-We were promoting football, Fireballs and Allegro as it is still pretty fresh and lots of people haven’t played it before. The team received the equivalent of $10 000 in 2009 and $10 000 in 2010.
– We had few minor private donors, who contributed financially or in other forms for example, free print of posters for logo on the posters.
– The team also worked with Event Agencies who organized integration events for companies (i.e., survival camps).
-We had our stand and employees could have training camp experience wearing pads, pushing sleds while kids learned to throw football, catch it, and play flag football. We did two such events and received $700 per event.
-Players were not paid for participation – they received food and could use other activities.
-At that time the team had the lowest monthly salary in the country: $6 a month. Players received helmets, shoulder pads and uniforms from the team .
If you have any more questions or need pictures feel free to contact me.
Wojciech Andrzejczak
Coach Voyt