Students from St Ann’s Junior School in Rotherham were treated to a surprise visit from Rotherham United club captain Richard Wood, Joe Mattock and Billy Jones.
As part of our Community Trust’s work in local primary schools, St Ann’s pupils visited AESSEAL New York Stadium for an action packed day which included a stadium tour, literacy work, a visit from Mascot Miller Bear and a surprise visit from the players.
Richard, Joe and Billy answered a number of questions from very excited students (and equally eager St Ann’s staff!) and signed autographs for everyone and posed for photos.
“As players we are always keen to meet the fans and the work Rotherham United Community Sports Trust undertake is fantastic. I was never this lucky as a child and I am jealous in a way as I never got to take part in such an exciting activities in my younger days, mine were always doing maths,” joked Wembley hero Wood.
“I have children myself who are in primary school and its brilliant to see so many happy and smiling faces enjoying their time at the stadium. The staff do a brilliant job and I always enjoy events like this as our role is to help inspire children locally to be the best they can be,” added Mattock.
“Since joining the club I have been really impressed with the work that the Community Trust deliver and events like today remind you about the magic of football. It is great to see so many smiling children and its pleasing to see how much of an impact the club is having in the community,” said Jones.
St Ann’s teacher Nichola Spink added: “I just wanted to say thank you to everyone that was involved with the stadium visit. All the staff had so many positive comments and cannot speak highly enough of Rotherham United Community Trust and all the staff were fantastic, they were also really impressed with the players being there.”
Gary Webb, Operations Manager for Rotherham United Community Sports Trust continued to explain: “It has been a busy week for us here at the stadium as we have seen just short of 200 local pupils from Rotherham schools in the last 2 days and we want to engage and inspire even more schools. The support of the players is fantastic and having them visit today is the icing on the cake. I am also very lucky to work with a very talented staffing team and would like to say a huge thank you to Claire Robertson, Steven Coddington and Faye McDool for their part in the visits, along with everyone else behind the scenes here at the club. Days like today are open to all schools across the Rotherham Borough so please email sportdevelopment@rotherhamunited.net for more information.”
Rotherham United are proud to work in partnership with the Professional Footballers’ Association (PFA) which was formed on 2nd December 1907 and is the world’s longest established professional sportsperson’s union. For more information on the PFA please visit: https://www.thepfa.com/thepfa/about