Members of Bournemouth’s business community swapped their suits for sports kit on Wednesday (May 15) as they took part in AFC Business’ Play on the Pitch Tournament.
Scores of people from local firms got the chance to play at the Premier League Vitality Stadi-um thanks to the event and its official supporter, Trethowans.
Staff from the law firm took a hands-on approach to their sponsorship of the tournament, pull-ing on their boots and shin pads to take part.
Managing partner Chris Whiteley said: “For many, the chance to play on a Premier League football pitch is a dream come true and it was our pleasure to make that happen for our friends in the Bournemouth business community.”
Around 115 people (16 teams) took part in the five-a-side tournament, including representa-tives from JP Morgan, AECC University College and AIM Altitude. In the end it was JP Mor-gan who came out on top after beating Living Home Tech in a tense final that ended with a penalty shootout.
BH Clothing won the plate competition, with Mark Barber Contract Gardeners coming in as runners up.
Amy Brunton, the club’s partnerships manager, said: “We regularly welcome Bournemouth’s bustling business community to the stadium for our popular AFC Business Club, but it’s not often we meet in sports kit on the pitch! The tournament is such a unique opportunity for peo-ple to live their dream of playing on a Premier League pitch while enjoying some networking with their peers.”
Trethowans is an official partner of AFC Bournemouth’s Community Sports Trust (CST).
The leading regional law firm, which has five offices across the region including in Bourne-mouth and Poole, sponsors the Premier League club’s popular schools Healthy Lifestyles Project, for which midfielder Lewis Cook is the project ambassador.
The main objective of the Healthy Lifestyle workshop is to educate young people on the im-portance of maintaining a healthy lifestyle through diet and exercise.
Its aim is to make children and young people more aware of the food that they are eating.
The partnership also sees Trethowans support the CST and attend corporate events.
As well as the AFC Bournemouth CST, Trethowans is involved in a number of initiatives, in-cluding sponsoring the business awards, rugby, cricket, speedway and a history festival – as well as helping a number of local charities with fundraising and donations.
To find out more about Trethowans visit www.trethowans.com