MTA shoots Sheffield children's hospital into the spotlight

Sheffield United and Sheffield Wednesday Football Clubs will both stride out for the ‘Steel City’ derby with The Children’s Hospital (Sheffield) emblazoned on their shirts on Sunday, in a unique move of solidarity to show their admiration for the hospital.

The from the Blades’ official club sponsor Malta Tourism Authority, will see The Children’s Hospital Charity’s logo replace the usual visitMALTA.com branding on United’s red and white shirts for the Sheffield derby match.

Alex Incorvaja, MTA director – UK & Ireland said:

“As the official club sponsor of the Blades, we continue to look at ways of supporting the local community in Sheffield. We hope that handing over our shirt branding for one of the most high profile occasions on the Football League calendar will contribute to giving this children’s hospital the recognition and support they deserve.”

The Blades’ strip will mirror the Owls’ kit for this high profile fixture, following Sheffield Wednesday’s pioneering move in 2009 to gift their shirt sponsorship to the hospital and its charity for two seasons (2009-2010 and 2010-2011) - a partnership that has already generated over £80,000 for The Children’s Hospital Charity.

Last Tuesday, United’s Gary Speed and Wednesday’s Darren Purse, visited The Children’s Hospital to unveil the shirts to children and staff from the hospital.

Both clubs are keen to show a unified front when it comes to the hospital and express their pride, support, and gratitude to a Sheffield institution that has been supporting their fans and their families for over 100 years.

The Children’s Hospital is part of Sheffield Children's NHS Foundation Trust which is one of only four dedicated children’s hospital trusts in the UK providing integrated, highly specialist healthcare for children and young people. Each year, the Trust sees 180,000 appointments from across the country.

The Children’s Hospital, is one of the top children’s hospital trusts in the UK and is at the very forefront of paediatric care. The Trust offers world-class facilities and expertise, with the Trust’s Paediatric Limb Reconstruction Service and Metabolic Bone team attracting referrals from across the UK and Europe.

The Trust is also a specialist centre for children with neurological conditions and is a highly respected world leader and the European training centre for paediatric gastroenterology, pioneering some of the latest techniques and procedures.

Its first-class facilities include a pioneering High Definition Theatre of the Future, a recently completed purpose built High Dependency Unit for the hospital’s most seriously ill patients and a paediatric clinical research facility, dedicated to alleviating childhood illness and diseases.

To support the hospital as a centre of excellence, Sheffield United and Sheffield Wednesday have arranged for their squads to sign their ‘derby’ shirts so that the hospital charity can auction them off after the game.