Michael Barile

As a result of close partnership with SPL Trust, DUNDEE UNITED will create 36 jobs as part of a £2.8 million UK Government scheme to help the unemployed.

All 12 Scottish Premier League clubs are taking part in the programme, which will create over 400 jobs—including 12 ground staff and 20 community coaches—across the country.

A total of 432 six-month job placements will be created at SPL clubs for the long-term unemployed.

Scottish secretary Jim Murphy said, “The new workers will walk through the doors of Scotland’s most famous football stadia to get to their work and they will rub shoulders with their idols.”

The jobs are part of the latest round of Labour’s Future Jobs Fund which will see the creation of 558 jobs in total, including 432 in football, 57 with Edinburgh City Council and 20 recruitments to work at Barnardo’s.

The football jobs will see community coaches work to improve health and education.

Ground staff will help upgrade and maintain existing playing fields and changing rooms.

Jobless people of all ages who live near any SPL ground can apply for the six-month scheme.

Job centres will handle the applications and follows previous work placements at football clubs.

All employees will gain qualifications to help them into sustained employment, including SFA coaching qualifications levels 1, 2 and 3 and advanced coaching techniques.

A total of 9545 jobs have so far been created under the Future Jobs Fund in eight rounds of funding.

Dundee United director of communications Derek Robertson said, “There will be a lot of detail we need to study but we very much welcome the announcement of this major funding initiation.”

The last couple of weeks of my placement have been hectic as usual. I’ve been planning a tender bid for another Employability Programme, organised an Anti-racism Seminat at Tannadice for local schoolkids and arranged for Lorraine Kelly of GMTV to donate a handbag for a fundraising raffle. Here’s some info about the Seminar.

DUNDEE UNITED PROMOTE A POSITIVE ANTI-RACIST MESSAGE

Dundee United FC held their second Show Racism the Red Card seminar this season, the club’s eighth since the campaign began in October 2003. As with previous community based work The ArabTRUST and UNITED for ALL were partners to the development of this project and demonstrated that racism is something that neither the club nor the fan-base will accept. Key to the seminar was the attendance of local S2 school pupils from Menzieshill HS

A screening of the Show Racism the Red Card (Scotland) film which featured Prince Bauben and new Scotland manager Craig Levein was  followed by a lively Q&A session between the pupils and Dundee United’s, Damien Casalinuovo, Francisco Sandaza and Sean Dillon. Also on the panel were Scottish footballing legends and Show Racism the Red Card coaches Derek Ferguson, Michael Weir and Gary MacKay.

Local politicians Marlyn Glen MSP and Councillor Jim Barrie also participated.

After a session getting Dundee United posters signed, the young people were given a grand tour of Tannandice Park and provided with tickets for Dundee United v Heart of Midlothian on 7^th March.

Stephen Thompson DUFC Chairman said: ”Once again we are pleased to host this important event and although we are proud of our excellent record in this city we cannot be complacent about the challenge of racism. We have no place at Tannadice for bigots.

”Billy Singh, Campaign Manager with Show Racism the Red Card added “Dundee United have been great supporters of the campaign over the years. The young people we speak to in Dundee clearly demonstrate support for the anti-racist message, we hope that they take that message back to their schools and their communities.”

I am pleased to announce that Dundee United FC and the charity, United for All (UfA) have agreed for UfA to take over and operate the successful United for Kids Scheme. All donations given to United for Kids will now be encouraged to go through the appropriate UfA “Just Giving” website pages, which attract gift aid from the Inland Revenue.

The following supporters’ organisations have special fundraising pages and you can make an online gift aid donation now.

ArabTRUST members can donate here.
The Federation of DUSC members can donate here.
Business Club members can donate here.
EastFootball Forum – Eddie’s Army members can donate here.
Dundee United MAD members can donate here.
The Tangerine Club members can donate here but remember you must pay UK tax.

If you do not wish to use the gift aid donation process, you can still donate online by entering your details here.

Cash and cheques will continue to be accepted by the Club and these donations will also offer the opportunity to reclaim gift aid from UK taxpayers.

David Mulholland, Chairman of United for All highlighted that “Although United for Kids has now established itself, we will be able to attract further benefits to the scheme via corporate and government funding for appeals which were not previously accessible by the Club. We aim to develop the scheme to enable even more disadvantaged youngsters to participate.”

Lookout for the tangerine Collecting Cans which will be appearing in appropriate areas around Tannadice including local pubs and shops.

UFK Background:

In response to a suggestion from an exiled fan in Canada five years ago, Dundee United FC offered a facility which allowed supporters to sponsor season tickets for disadvantaged children.

Dundee United pledged to match any funds raised from fans in this way to ensure that the number of season tickets available under this scheme was doubled.

In August 2009, over 200 season tickets were allocated to children and young people from across Dundee, together with a provision for their adult supervisors and carers.

These tickets, valued at some £35,000 have been made available through donations and fund raising from individual local and exiled fans, supporters’ organisations, and from the Club itself which has £1 for £1 matched the generosity of the fans.

The tickets are circulated across Dundee’s Integrated Children and Young Person’s Services, both within the city council and the voluntary sector to ensure that the most disadvantaged children in our community benefit. Many of those young people have little or no hope of seeing their local football heroes in action on a weekly basis.

The feedback from this scheme over the five years has been extremely positive, with workers and carers reporting that children and young people were getting a great deal from the scheme.

UfA is now participating in a project which recycles cartridges and phones. I have arranged for supporters to simply leave their old item in one of the marked bags available at our Collection Points located in The Club Shop, Main Reception or one of the Tangerine Trading Posts.

Every 30 items of value received will qualify us for a free collection by our recycling partner.

Recycling laser/ink cartridges and mobile phones with UfA is environmentally friendly and helps to reduce the 250 million cartridges dumped in landfill sites in the last decade as well as helping raise money for UfA’s exciting new football projects.

According to current statistics, only 5% of empty toner cartridges are currently being recycled – this means 95% of these items are simply discarded and end up in landfill sites. As well as taking up room in our already-limited landfill sites, it can take up to 1.5 litres of oil to produce a new laser cartridge from scratch and a discarded used toner/ink cartridge can take over 1000 years to decompose, this is not good news for our environment!

UNITED for ALL have very kindly agreed to purchase 500 footballs for using for donations and other purposes. The balls will be signed by the Dundee United first team squad and donated free of charge to some worthwhile causes. A small admin charge for requests from various individuals/organisations may also be made. Any profits from those purchased will subsidise those which meet our criteria for providing free of charge and allow the project an element of sustainability.

Here’s a sneek preview of the new artwork which I have been working on with the design department at Mitre. The logos will be displayed on the balls which will arrive in plenty time for start of new season in August 2010.

My first formal day in post was hectic and involved meeting the Minister for Sport and some of the community coaches at a local primary school in Carnoustie. I facilitated this visit last week before the Induction Day in London and was delighted that not only was  it a big success but the item was covered by local press and also earned a clip on STV News.

Minister Supports Community Schools Programme

Minister for Public Health and Sport Shona Robison visited one of Dundee United’s community schools coaching sessions this week and was impressed at the scale of the not for profit initiative which began last year under the stewardship of ex player and Scotland Internationalist Dave Bowman.

80 children from Burnside Primary school in Carnoustie attended the session, which is part of a programme designed to encourage participation in sport and healthy and responsible lifestyles.

Minister for Public Health and Sport Shona Robison said: “It is fantastic to see so many young Dundonians getting excited by being active and engaging in local community sport. Dundee United FC now have over 40 community coaches delivering programmes throughout the city to youngsters from the ages of 5 to 14 – an excellent way to encourage youngsters to adopt healthy lifestyles, now and into adulthood.”

Mike Barile, Coordinator of UNITED for ALL charity who arranged the visit said: ” Dundee United is delighted that this not for profit community initiative has been recognised by the Minister as an excellent way not only to to encourage participation in sport, but also to encourage healthy and responsible lifestyles.”

The community schools programme operates on an eight week professional coaching module under Dave Bowman and also encourages an emphasis on fitness and healthy eating, coupled with social awareness messages, including the issues of drug misuse, bullying and racism. Already over 1,600 children, of all ages, have taken part in the programme and Dave and his team have visited schools of all sizes in both rural and town locations. Each module costs only £20 and each child is provided with free bespoke training gear to keep. The value of the kit is greater than the cost of the course, effectively providing free participation. This free kit provision has been made possible by sponsorship from partner organisations such as ArabTRUST, the Dundee United Business Club and others. All participating children are also given free SPL match tickets.

My rail travel tickets have arrived safely and of course I’m looking forward to the Induction Day on 11th January 2010.

I’ll be travelling down on the Sunday sleeper from Dundee and am well impressed by Vodafone’s efficient organisation of whole event.

In the meantime I am attempting to raise matched funding for my UfA project from sportscotland which shows how significant the support from this programme is. Vodafone’s contribution is already making a difference before I’ve even started!

Fingers and toes crossed that the application is successful.