Last year, Cambridge United announced a season-long partnership with Novotel Cambridge North as the official Hotel Partner for the Football Club...
The hotel, located next to Cambridge North Station with easy access to the M11 and A14, opened its doors in 2021. Part of the partnership will see Hotel Novotel branding at the stadium and use of facilities available to the First Team and Club.
We are now delighted to announce that Novotel has also come on board as the Cambridge United Community Trust Powerchair Football Sponsor.
Powerchair Football is a unique sport that provides opportunities for people with a high level of impairment to access the game of football. It is the only active team participation sport for people who use electric wheelchairs.
The game is for anyone who uses a powered wheelchair or those who have limited movement in a manual wheelchair. The sport is fast-paced, dynamic and very enjoyable to watch. The unique nature of powerchair football allows all ages, disabilities and both genders to compete together.
Christophe Ughetto, General Manager at Novotel Cambridge North, said, "We feel privileged to contribute somehow to the wonderful work carried out by Cambridge United Community Trust.
"Having recently attended one of the sessions, we were simply impressed by the passion of Phil Mullen but also all the hard work done behind the scenes to keep these sessions going.
"The smiles on the faces of the participants but also the joy and atmosphere among the carers, parents and friends attending is, in our eyes, the best recognition of the work done by the Trust. For that we are grateful to be involved."
Vicky Neal at the Community Trust added, "We are so pleased that Novotel have come on board and joined the likes of HSBC, Production Bureau, Irwin Mitchell and Living Sport in sponsoring specific disability sport sessions.
"Our inclusive sport programme is all about reducing barriers to sport for people with disabilities. We want to use this as a platform to kickstart Powerchair Football in this area – and so we’re immensely grateful to Novotel for their support.”
Following the finalisation of the sponsorhip, members of the Novotel team headed along to a session to see what it was all about!
Coach Phil Mullen said, "There was plenty of laughs and jokes as the Novotel staff were put through their paces! We did have a game at the end which the Powerchair uses won 4-1 vs the manual chair users."
For many years, the Community Trust has run Powerchair Football sessions as part of its wider award-winning disability sport programme, which caters for 10 various impairments ensuring there are accessible football opportunities for all to enjoy.
Last season, working in partnership with Phil Mullen Sports Coaching, the Trust delivered a record-breaking 742 disability football sessions with 3879 attendances across them. There were 214 individual participants heading along to sessions and 91% felt the activity was positive or very positive for their sense of community.
To find out more about the Community Trust’s inclusive sport programmes or sponsorship opportunities, please get in touch with Vicky Neal: vickyn@cambridgeunited.com