Footballers score on virtual presentation night - raising more than £1,000 for the hungry

AFC Bridgnorth Spartans usually holds its annual celebration at Bridgnorth Leisure Centre each May with around 400 people in attendance.

Lockdown put paid to that but, not wanting to lose the chance to celebrate the season, the committee decided that the club would host it as a Facebook event to the whole Spartans community.

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Sten Lloyd, the club's media and marketing lead, said: "I think one thing that this lockdown has been able to create is good communication through digital platforms like Zoom, Whatsapp and social media, so having an event on Facebook seemed a good thing to do.

"We asked all our managers to record a four minute review of their season and then their individual player awards, Spartan of the Year, Most improved Player and Players Player.

"The videos were then edited and scheduled in a private group with over 300 parents, players and families and everyone could watch and post comments to them as they went out.

"We also wanted to raise money for a local charity as we would do if we had managed to be together, so attached to each video was a fundraiser donation button and we managed to raise over £1,000 on the night for Bridgnorth Food Bank."

Club chairman Rob Woodcock said the event brought the Spartans family closer together. "It was important for us as a club to celebrate an unusual season and allow the children, families, managers and coaching staff a chance to celebrate the achievements they had made before lockdown, and also bring last season to a close so we can start looking forward to the new season, whenever that happens and is safe to do so."

Spartans have been no strangers to embracing social media and club cohesion during lockdown with the NHS video that went viral in April, in which players did keepy-ups and virtually passed the ball onto a team-mate or coach.