Norwich and District Sunday League, the only men’s Sunday league in Norfolk has invited MensCraft to partner with them for their bi-monthly sporting award. Known as the MensCraft Sporting Award, it is awarded to the team that has been given the highest average sporting points by their opponents in the previous two months.

 

Kev Brown, Secretary for the Norwich and District Sunday League talked to us about the award’s importance and the criteria for selection.

 

Thank you, Kev, for the opportunity to partner with you. Could you tell us more about the importance of the Sporting Award?

As a league want to promote a safe and enjoyable environment for football to played in, the promotion of being sporting and rewarding that sportsmanship is a big part of creating and sustaining that environment.

How do the teams allocate sporting points?

After every game teams have to mark their opponents out of 10 for how sporting they were. Referee’s also mark both teams for sportsmanship. The league committee draw up a shortlist of three and decide who should win the award for the month.

The clubs will look at the behaviour of, not only the players on the pitch, but the behaviour of people on the sidelines, too, whether it be the manager, substitutes or supporters. This behaviour will include how people communicate during the game with teammates, the referee and the opposition, the fairness of tackles etc. and the general attitude of the opposition as a club.

 How did you come to think of MensCraft as a partner for the award and league, in general?

We were looking for a charity that could help the members of our clubs, whether it be players, managers, committee members etc and MensCraft jumped out at us. A charity that doesn’t just look at mental health but wellbeing as a whole, a charity that holds the same values as the league in respect to providing an inclusive environment for all (as shown with our status as a Kick It Out Equality Chartered League, the only league in Norfolk with this status) and a charity that is Norfolk-based.

 

All at MensCraft are honoured to be associated with the league and proud to be partners for the Sporting Award. We’re looking forward to attending fixtures and presenting the winning teams with this distinction.

 

For more information about the league, visit the website.