On Wednesday 15^th May 2013 Chelsea FC won the UEFA Europa League final in Amsterdam wearing the Right To Play logo on their shirts! In the 2011/12 season Chelsea FC became the first Premier League team to wear a charity’s logo on their European kit and went on to win the UEFA Champions League in Munich. Making it two European titles in two years with the Right To Play logo on their backs!

Millions of people have seen the Right To Play logo, but what do those three words really mean?

WE BELIEVE IN EVERY CHILD’S RIGHT TO PLAY

We are Chelsea FC’s global charity partner and use sport and play to educate and empower children around the world. Since 2007 Chelsea FC have helped raise money and awareness for us, having a life changing impact on thousands of children and young people affected by poverty, conflict and disease. You can find out more about the partnership here.

In Amsterdam on 15th May the Chelsea team demonstrated their support for Right To Play by sporting the logo on their shirts in the Europa League final.
In Uganda on 15th May children learnt important life lessons through play – like how to protect themselves from malaria. Right To Play games like “Malaria Tag” are having a real impact: A programme evaluation in Uganda shows that 84% of children who take part in Right To Play activities report sleeping under a mosquito net – that’s compared to a national average of only 10% reported by UNICEF.  In 2011 Chelsea donated thousands of mosquito nets to help combat malaria for children on Right To Play programmes further supporting our work in this vital area
In Lebanon on 15th May activities took place in protected environments, where children can play in the absence of violence and fear. Creating safe play spaces is critical to building life skills like confidence, cooperation, trust and respect. Parents, teachers and Coaches all report that children are learning these skills and are putting their differences aside to come together for play. Chelsea FC coaches witnessed this transformation first-hand in 2008 and brought the world of international football into the lives of young Palestinian refugees, marginalized Lebanese and other vulnerable groups in our programmes.
In Ghana on 15th May programme participants learnt about HIV and AIDS. Special health games focus on building children’s knowledge about the disease, teaching prevention and combatting the negative stigmas that exist for people affected by the HIV and AIDS. Our use of games and play activities has led to an increased understanding of this deadly disease. When it comes to learning, there is no better teacher than your hero. In 2007 and 2010, children got the chance to play alongside role model and local hero Michael Essien when Chelsea staff and players visited programmes in Ghana.
In Thailand on 15th May play was used at school to enrich children’s learning experience and improve the quality of their basic education, health awareness and social development. Teachers are using our play-based learning methodology in the classroom and it is showing real results. An astounding 100% of classrooms using Right To Play activities show evidence of a collaborative learning environment, compared to only 46% of non-Right To Play classrooms.  Having worked together with Chelsea to develop a Football for Development training resource that can be used for play-based learning, the resource is now helping 120,000 children in 15 countries. Chelsea will visit Thailand as part of their 2013/14 pre-season tour where Football for Development activities take place.

 We are proud to be Chelsea FC’s global charity partner and proud to have them wear our logo in Europe. 

 

There were many activities aside from the run itself, including Chelsea FC providing their Foundation coaches to run games with kids, face painting and computer games with Game Wagon. The event saw an additional 100 people from the event inaugural in 2012 and has so far raised over £50,000!

Right To Play and the GB Short Track Speed Skating team have announced a new one year partnership. This partnership will see the GB Short Track team support our fundraising events and will be used as a platform to raise awareness for the cause.

We are very excited to announce this new partnership, having strong links to the Winter Olympics- our founder and CEO, Johann Olav Koss, won three gold medals in speed skating at the 1994 Winter Olympics- it’s a great match. We also have a number of winter sports Athlete Ambassadors include the skier Chemmy Alcott, skeleton bobsled racer Shelley Rudman and our latest addition, Elise Christie who is part of the GB Short Track team and a strong contender for Sochi 2014.

Johann Olav Koss, founder and CEO of Right To Play comments: “Right To Play is proud to be supported by a number of world class athletes and sports organisations and we are delighted to announce this new partnership with the GB Short Track team and some of GB’s top Sochi medal hopefuls. As the team competes on the world stage, they will be role models to the million children around the world we educate and empower each week through sport and play, and will have a life changing impact on them as they support us raising money for the programmes.”

GB Short Track team member and two-time Olympian Jon Eley added, “It’s a big honour for us to be involved with Right To Play. They are a brilliant charity and the work they do around the world is great, so being a part of it is very special.”

The Chelsea FC and Right To Play eBay store raised £25,000 for Right To Play! Nearly half of the money was raised through auctioning 22 places to play at Stamford Bridge and signed Chelsea shirts, the remaining amount was raised through voluntary donations from eBay customers bidding for items across the UK site.

We would like to thank everyone who placed a bid and made a donation, this is the first time we've run an on-line auction like this and it was a huge success thanks to those people. Also, a big thank you goes to our partner Chelsea for providing the items for the auction and to eBay for their support.

The partnership between Chelsea and Right To Play is now in its seventh year and has seen a variety of innovative initiatives in this time, including this latest one that gave members of the public the chance to bid on the once in a lifetime experiences and Chelsea collectors’ pieces.

The partnership has raised £2 million since commencing in 2007 and was extended for a further three years at the end of 2012, you can find out about it here.

Steve Backley, former British javelin thrower

After the 18 hole competition, participants enjoyed an evening dinner where a Q&A took place with cricket legend Mark Butcher and Olympian Steve Backley, providing guests with an insight into the world of professional sportspeople. This was followed by an auction featuring signed sporting memorabilia to help generate further funds for Right To Play.

Mark Butcher, former England opening batsman with the winner of the signed cricket bat

The event looks to have raised £8,000, which is enough for Right To Play to provide over 260 children with weekly sport and play opportunities for an entire year. Thank you to all the team at Polycom UK for your continued support!