A December #NoHomeKit cause initiative for UK homelessness charity Shelter created by specialist sport and entertainment agency Dark Horses united players, fans and the wider soccer community for the traditional Boxing Day matches.
According to the campaign’s supporting PR material, every 90 minutes 25 households become homeless in England alone. Thus, between the opening and final whistle of any and every football match, 25 households no longer have a safe or secure place to call home. Shelter provides frontline services for the homeless and working with agency Dark Horses and media partner Reach, the charity called on as many football clubs and fans as possible to swap their home shirts for their away or third kits this Boxing Day to show their support for everyone without a home today.
From Sky Sports pundits Jeff Stelling and Chris Kamara to sportswear brands like Puma and Mitre, people and organisations from almost every part of the football world united together to fight homelessness. Indeed, around 100 clubs from the English and Welsh leagues (including Portsmouth, Salford City, Sheffield United and Cardiff) signed up to set aside their traditional and sacred home kits for Boxing Day games to raise funds and show support for Shelter’s #NoHomeKit campaign.
As well as the highly visible and symbolic change of shirt, off the pitch teams supporting #NoHomeKit including direct fundraising and promotion through matchday advertising and social media content. Fans were also encouraged to directly support Shelter’s frontline services by donating £5 to the campaign by texting ’HOME’ to 70455, or by visiting the website.
To promote the initiative, an integrated campaign rolled out in December spearheaded by a hero call-to-get-involved film based around short, funny and heart-warming football stories about classic Boxing Day football traditions.
These range from a Brighton supporter repainting his shed from the club’s famous Blue and White stripes to its green away colours, to a young girl colouring on a newspaper changing Harry Kane’s white Spurs kit to its cosmic coloured away kit. The spot also saw former football turned pundit Chris Kamara reprise his famous “I don’t know Jeff” gaff.
Launched on 16 December, the film – which was shared and amplified by many of the game’s biggest names – seeks to drive reach, engagement and participation with Shelter’s initiative and driv e them to find out more and support the campaign at https://england.shelter.org.uk/suppor…
⚽️ It's great that @MirrorFootball are proudly supporting our #NoHomeKit campaign this Christmas.
Everyone who gets involved is doing something special by bringing the football community together to fight homelessness this Christmas.https://t.co/eOkTRxCoCb
— Shelter (@Shelter) December 16, 2021
Shelter Campaigns Director Osama Bhutta commented: “We’ve been overwhelmed by the support from across the football community for our #NoHomeKit campaign, and we want to say a massive thank you to everyone who gets stuck in to fight homelessness with us this Christmas. Our emergency helpline is open 365 days a year, including on Christmas Day, so that no-one has to face homelessness alone. By ditching their home colours this Boxing Day, fans and players alike will be helping us to find safe and secure homes for people whose lives are on the line.”
“There is a beautiful simplicity in this idea about the mutual importance of ‘home’ for both football and Shelter. It’s been an incredible initiative to be involved in, and we’ve been overwhelmed by the generosity and support we’ve had from clubs, brands and influencers alike,” said Dark Horses CEO Melissa Roberston. “To see clubs like Preston and Portsmouth being cheered on at home whilst wearing away colours? It’s just never happened before in the history of football, and is properly momentous. We hope the film does justice to this historic occasion. This is a cause that could affect anybody, so it’s on all of us, whoever we support, to help fight it.”
Chris Kamara added: “I got involved in this campaign after hearing some of the harrowing statistics concerning homelessness in this country – such as there being over 400 households made homeless every day. Something needs to change and I’m hoping this campaign can be the start of that.”
The campaign was created for a Shelter team which included Head Of Culture, Entertainment & Sports Talia Pobischan, Culture, Entertainment & Sports Manager Lucy Mason, Assistant Director Of Community Events Tom Whitehead and Culture Entertainment & Sport Coordinator Hannah Mribiha by agency Dark Horses.
The team which developed the project at the agency was led by ECD Steve Howell, Creative Director Josh Pearce and Sean Johnson, Creative Eve De Haan, Strategy Director Mark Lloyd, CEO Melissa Robertson, Business Director Dan Cunningham, Account Manager James Tadros and Producer Emily Mules.
The production outfit was Kode with Director Peter Banks, Producer Danielle Wright, Executive Producers Matt Fleming and Jack Goodwin, Production Managers Sam Katz and Anita Okpongete, Director/Producer Assistant Julian Roberts, with Casting Director Francesca Houlder of Greenlight Casting. The 1st AD was Dom Asbridge, 2nd AD Charlotte Miller, Runner Fintan Power, DOP Thomas Hole, Focus Puller Alasdair Baines, Clapper Loader Rory Power, Camera Trainees Ernie Griffith and Joe Medlock, Grip Jack Kelly, Steadicam Operator Ivan Hinchley, Gaffer Freddie Bonfanti and Sparks Luca Rizzardi and Jonathan Woodward.
Sound operation was handled by James Jones and Matt Price, with Art Director Noam Piper, props were handled by Natasha Piper and Ben Hughes, the Art Trainee was Asya Peker, plus Stylists Pia Woodvine, Amber Morris and Phoebe Llewellyn and Medic Elizabeth Greenfield. Driving was via Touchdown TV and Leebra, security by Capricorn, editing by Tenthree, colour by @ Ect, sound via Sounds Good Studio and DLMDD.
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Since Covid-19 homeless measures and protections – like the ‘Everyone In’ scheme and the eviction ban – have ended and with living costs rising fast, Shelter’s emergency helpline has been receiving 1,000 calls a day.
Interestingly, even though the Premier League actively blocked its clubs from taking part in the initiative on the pitch (due to other commitments), Tottenham Hotspur, Everton, Brighton and Hove Albion, Brentford and Watford all threw their weight behind the campaign off the pitch.
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