The 1948-9 Fleetwood Town programme entry relating to Face in the Crowd
BSE, the sponsors of Fleetwood Town FC are speculating over whether their new initiative that has recently been introduced on match days has also encourage the BBC sports programme ‘Match of the Day’ to include a somewhat similar retro aspect to their opening sequence.
In July, the commercial gas and energy supplier announced that they were launching a new, season long competition called ‘Face in the Crowd’. Every Fleetwood fan is photographed when they arrive at the ground, and all the pictures are then flashed across a 25 metre screen, and the 60 plasma TV’s linked to it, at some point during the match.
The screen freezes and the persons face displayed at time is the winner, who receives a signed football. Inspiration for the contest was taken from a programme dating from the 1948/9 season that was found in the archives of the club, and shows that a similar contest was run at the club is the post war period.
BES is actually reintroducing a retro contest and bringing it up-to-date through the use of modern technology and audio-visual equipment. The new opening title sequence of Match of the Day has also gone a little retro and features a similar face in the crowd contest from another match programme from yesteryear.
BES’s director, Michelle Davidson, says: “We had the idea of running the BES Face in the Crowd contest before we discovered the old match programme and prior to seeing the new Match of the Day titles. We are delighted that our new contest is so ‘in vogue’, but also has reference to the past and the traditions of Fleetwood Town”.
The Fleetwood Town winners back in 1948 were a Mrs Roskell of Warren Street, a Mr F Robinson of Devon Avenue and a Mr H Mellor of Lower Lune Street. Top prize was £2 and 2 shillings, second prize £1 1shilling and third prize 10s 6d.
Whether any of their descendants are now Fleetwood Town supporters is not known, but BES would like any relatives of these winners from the 1940s to get in touch, if they are also Fleetwood Town supporters, by calling Jane Hunt on 01253 891114.
“It would be great if we could get relatives of these three winners down to the club one day”, says Michelle Davidson. That way, we can really unite the past with the present”.
BES Commercial Gas is the main club sponsor for the 2012-13 season at Fleetwood Town FC, with BES Commercial Electricity being the Associate Club Sponsor. Both energy suppliers are able to offer commercial customers substantial savings on their energy bills, of up to 40% on commercial gas and up to 50% on commercial electricity.