Hanwell Town FC is the first round qualifying winner of the inaugural Emirates FA Cup Club of the Round award.
The Emirates FA Cup Club of the Round has been introduced this season to recognise qualifying-round clubs for their efforts in advertising their games to drive attendance and raise recognition and awareness of non-league football.
From the first round qualifying onwards, clubs are given a suite of ten bespoke marketing assets by The FA to be used across print and social media. The first round qualifying fixtures, played over the weekend of 2-4 September, saw 117 of 232 clubs utilise the assets offered to them to proactively market their respective fixtures.
Clubs are judged on a range of criteria including attendance, number of promotional assets used on social media or in print, best social media coverage and video content, before the winner is selected from a shortlist of entrants by an FA panel.
Following the first round qualifying weekend, the shortlist included entries from Halesowen Town and Bognor Regis Town, however it was Hanwell Town which was named the winner.
— Hanwell Town FC (@HT_FC) September 1, 2016
The club, which plays in the Evo-Stick Southern League, was the first on record at this level to proactively use the marketing creative on a roadside LED, advertising their Emirates FA Cup fixture against Enfield Town on the A40 for nine days between 4am and 2am. They also used a range of assets provided across their social media account and recorded an attendance of 212 for their fixture against their north London opponents – a 77% increase on their usual average league gate of 120.
Hanwell advertised their first round qualifying fixture on the A40
Hanwell Town will receive the Club of the Round trophy, as well an Emirates FA Cup trophy appearance at their next competition fixture. In addition, the club will receive two tickets to the Emirates FA Cup final at Wembley Stadium, £500 paid social media support, five Nike training balls and four crates of Budweiser.
Hanwell Town will now face Thamesmead Town in the second round qualifying on Saturday 17 September – a fixture which will now have added significance with both the Club of the Round and Emirates FA Cup trophies present.
Nigel Hunt, commercial director at Hanwell Town, said: “We were delighted to hear the news that Hanwell Town had won the first round qualifying club of the round award. The support The FA have offered has been fantastic and its making a real difference to football at non-league level in the competition.
“We worked hard in utilising all the support given and that resulted in our growth in attendance. We are extremely excited about next Saturday and welcoming Thamesmead Town to Reynolds Field along with the Emirates FA Cup.”
In addition to the Club of the Round initiative, The FA has also kick-started a #WembleyToWembley Instagram takeover on the Emirates FA Cup account, with players at each round of the competition taking control to give a first person account of their matchday. This will continue for all 13 rounds, and will culminate in the story continuing all the way to the Emirates FA Cup final at Wembley Stadium connected by EE.
