Saints fans grace the hallowed turf of St Mary’s thanks to Main Club Sponsor Virgin Media

The competition, organised by Main Club sponsor Virgin Media, was arranged to mark the end of the season and reward fans for their continued support of the Club during the 2017-2018 season.

This rare access to the Premier League pitch and stadium was not limited to players, as their friends and families were also invited and took their place in the stands as they watched their loved ones compete for the trophy.

The tournament saw seven sides take part in a fiesta of football with over 80 male and female players competing throughout the day. Teams that took part consisted of local clubs with a mix of ages and experience, all of who play football for the love of the game.

The seven-teams took part in one group with sides playing each other once and the top two teams progressing to the final. This was contested by AFC Wyvern – who won all six of their group matches – and a Sports Media side with the latter, made up of national football journalists, running out 2-0 victors.

All competing teams walked away with an incredible prize for taking part: a framed Southampton shirt which had been signed by all of the current first team. This was presented to the captains of each of the seven sides at the end of the day. 

Brigitte Trafford from Virgin Media said: “Southampton fans have given their all supporting the club this season and this day of football in the sun was our way of rewarding their dedication and efforts.”

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Teams that took part:  AFC Wyvern, Sports Media FC, Werder Beermen, Hedge End Saints, LDFC, FATLADS, Sholing Ladies

Tweets from the day can be found on Twitter using the #VirginMediaFansCup hashtag

Virgin Media’s sponsorship of Southampton Football Club

·        Virgin Media became the official Main Club Sponsor of Southampton at the start of the 2016-17 season in a three-year deal.

·        The company aims to be a different type of football sponsor and has carried out a number of initiatives to get behind football fans, such as subsidising away tickets to £20 for Saints’ fans travelling to Manchester United, Middlesbrough, Chelsea and Everton.

·        The company also supports the Football Supporters’ Federation’s ‘Twenty’s Plenty’ campaign and subsidises all Premier League away fans’ tickets to St Mary’s to £20.

·        Virgin Media is the UK’s only TV provider to offer all the football on Sky Sports and BT sports in one package. 

About Virgin Media

Virgin Media offers four multi award-winning services across the UK and Ireland: broadband, TV, mobile phone and landline.

Our dedicated, ultrafast network delivers the fastest widely-available broadband speeds to homes and businesses and we’re expanding this through our Project Lightning programme, which could extend our network to up to 17 million premises.

Our interactive Virgin TV service brings live TV, thousands of hours of on-demand programming and the best apps and games to customers through a set-top box, as well as on-the-go through tablets and smartphones.

Virgin Mobile launched the world’s first virtual mobile network and offers fantastic value and innovative services with 4G connectivity. We are also one of the largest fixed-line home phone providers in the UK and Ireland.

Through Virgin Media Business we support entrepreneurs, businesses and the public sector, delivering the fastest widely available broadband speeds and tailor-made services.

Virgin Media is part of Liberty Global, the world’s largest international TV and broadband company. Liberty Global connects 22 million customers through operations in 11 countries across Europe subscribing to 46 million TV, broadband internet and telephony services. It also serves 7 million mobile subscribers and offers WiFi service through 12 million access points across its footprint.