New AO sponsorships will make sport accessible for almost half a million kids in the next five years

• AO is investing £2m in boosting brand awareness through sponsorships that also benefit 472,800 young people over the next five years 
• AO seals sponsorship deal with Jacksonville Jaguars UK to bring Jaguars NFL ‘JagTag’ craze to 87,000 UK schoolchildren
• Electricals retailer also commits funding to shirt sponsorship for grassroots youth teams
• This further investment into AO’s brand sponsorships will now see over 250m brand impressions annually

AO has announced further investment in growing its brand through commercial sponsorships which also includes funding grassroots team sports for young people.

Over the next five years, 472,800 young people are set to benefit from the sponsorship of Jacksonville Jaguars UK, combined with a grassroots initiative to sponsor sport kits for grassroots teams across the UK.

Over 87,000 young people will benefit from AO’s sponsorship of NFL team, Jacksonville Jaguars ground-breaking UK ‘JagTag’ programme.

JagTag is a simplified version of tag-based American Football invented by the Jacksonville Jaguars and sweeping across schools in the UK. Getting kids active and interested in a different sport to the usual.

The game is taught in over 300 UK schools as part of the PE curriculum, as well as youth centres and sports halls nationwide.

AO has also created a hub on its website, where all types of grassroots youth sports teams can apply to have their kit paid for by and sponsored by the retailer.

The initiatives follow the Centre for Social Justice’s (CSJ) new report, “Game Changer: A plan to transform young lives through sport” , produced in partnership with the Nick Maughan Foundation. The report recommends that Britain’s 3.6 million secondary pupils should be given a “Right to Sport”, guaranteeing them two hours of extra-curricular sport every week in addition to traditional PE time in a bid to slash youth crime, improve school attendance, and boost their academic prospects.

John Roberts, AO Founder and CEO said: “Talent is evenly distributed across the UK, but opportunity is not.

Inside most of these kids is incredible potential yet they get ignored by politicians, so we need to start building them a future they care about and believe in.”

Over the last six years, AO has already helped tens of thousands of kids; as proud sponsors of Sale Sharks’ ground-breaking ‘Are You A-OK?’ children’s mental health programme, alongside Lancashire Cricket’s county age-groups, and our support for Bolton Lads and Girls Club and HideOut Youth Zone.

John continued: “By extending our grass roots kit sponsorships and our JagTag partnership with the Jacksonville Jaguars UK, we’ll give almost half a million young people the chance to get involved in sport over the next five years.”

Maria Gigante, VP, Operations at Jacksonville Jaguars UK added: “The Jaguars are really pleased with the tremendous growth of JagTag since the programme began. We are proud not only because it is a sport for all, but that by engaging young people in fun, physical activity, we are also helping to develop social skills, teamwork, and camaraderie, that is truly making a difference at a grassroots level.

With the support of AO, we can continue to grow JagTag and deliver in more locations across the UK and Ireland. We are grateful to AO for believing in our community initiatives, and for the support to extend our reach and help more young people.”

To register interest in the AO grassroots programme: https://forms.office.com/pages/responsepage.aspx?id=P6WEsK5BkkaKm7PrJIuPg846MNcV2NtPlzSBTpJ0phNUMVlUNlNEMkY5SUlJMzFJT1dJUDIwRE81Qy4u