Local brand AO, the UK’s most trusted major electricals retailer and sponsor of the Manchester Arena, have announced they are pumping more than £2 million into children’s sports and grassroots teams as part of an exciting new partnership with an NFL team.
With the Bolton-based, nationwide business continuing to support local teams and further invest in youth sport across Greater Manchester and beyond, AO‘s latest venture will see an estimated 472,800 young people benefit from a new initiative with an American football team looking to make an impact in the UK.
Teaming up to sponsor the Jacksonville Jaguars and their growing UK arm, whose support has been growing on this side of the Atlantic since 2013, the two organisations are combining to provide a new scheme to sponsor sports kits amongst grassroots teams across the country.
Better still, more than 87,000 youngsters will benefit from AO and the Jacksonville Jaguars sponsorship through their ground-breaking and hugely exciting new UK sports programme known as ‘JagTag’.
JagTag is a simplified version of tag-based American football, which was invented by Jaguars and is already sweeping across British schools, getting kids active and interested in a new and different sport.
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Most similar to the likes of tag-rugby, the game is already being taught in over 300 schools as part of their PE curriculum, not to mention having caught on at countless 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 and sponsored by the retailer.
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Not a bad deal at all — and it’s by no means the first time AO has teamed up with local clubs and sports centres to ensure kids and young people have the right kit and equipment.
The initiative follows the Centre for Social Justice’s (CSJ) new report, ‘Game Changer: A plan to transform young lives through sport’, which found that providing a “right to sport” to 3.6 million UK secondary school pupils could help “slash youth crime, improve school attendance and boost their academic prospects” overall.
Speaking on the new partnership, AO Founder and CEO John Roberts 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.
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“By extending our grassroots 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.”
You can register your interest in the AO grassroots programme on behalf of a child, school, sports club or youth centre HERE.
New Amazon Prime Video docuseries to show Pep Guardiola’s final seasons at Manchester City
Emily Sergeant
A new all-access docuseries featuring Pep Guardiola’s final few seasons at Manchester City is set to air this summer.
Coming exclusively to Prime Video in the UK and Ireland, the four-part documentary is set to take Manchester City fans and neutral viewers alike inside the club as the players and manager – who delivered an era of dominance -make way for a new generation.
Filmed over the past two seasons, this is the ultimate account of an emotional farewell that marks the end of an era in English football, and will offer unfiltered access to Guardiola, his squad, and the City boardroom.
After 10 trophy-filled years – which included six Premier League titles, the UEFA Champions League, three FA Cups, and five EFL Cups – Pep Guardiola called time on his tenure in Manchester last month, alongside fan favourite players Bernardo Silva and John Stones, as well as Kevin De Bruyne the season prior.
This new docuseries was there to follow them every step of the process.
Fans can follow City from a disappointing 2024/25 campaign right through to a domestic double the following season, charting the raw emotion of a squad in transition.
The series is directed by Academy and BAFTA award-winning filmmaker, Kevin Macdonald, alongside City Studios’ John De Caux, and is produced by Kevin Macdonald for Plan B/KM Films and Gavin Johnson and Ged Doherty for City Studios.
“This is the ultimate account of an emotional farewell that marks the end of an era in English football,” Amazon Prime Video said in a statement.
Joining Prime Video’s wide selection of sports programming, the series will be available to watch at no additional cost to Prime members this summer.
It’ll be ready to stream on 19 August.
Featured Image – Prime Video
Sport
Here’s our petition for ‘Wonderwall’ to become England’s new football anthem
Danny Jones
All things considered, England have made a great start to the 2026 World Cup, pitching themselves as one of the great entertainers this tournament, and the scenes of the supporters and players alike serenading an entire stadium with ‘Wonderwall’ after the full-time whistle gave us chills.
So why not time for a change?
After all, that feels a lot like what this World Cup squad is about: a new manager, new teammates, not clinging to the previous ways of playing – and perhaps it’s time to put ‘Sweet Caroline’ to one side.
Now, we’re by no means saying that we’re ‘done’ with the John Denver anthem that has been reborn as a Three Lions anthem, but look at how good it was watching England belting out Oasis with the fans.
“Today is gonna be the day that England beat Croatia 4-2”, as BBC’s Match of the Day cleverly quipped.
Obviously, we’re biased as Mancs, but we also think there’s something special about having that particular track feel so good to hear again.
As much as we love Oasis, for a long time, it felt like we couldn’t enjoy arguably their biggest-ever single anywhere near as much as we once did.
We assume it’s something akin to hearing ‘Mr Brightside’ non-stop for what felt like millennia, and in truth, hearing those repetitions of “ba, ba, ba… SO GOOD, SO GOOD!” over and over again at sporting fixtures beyond just national team games has taken the magic out of it at times.
Perhaps it’s just a case of saturation in certain settings and songs simply being overplayed – FIFA’s co-hosts over in the US certainly helped see to that when it came to ‘Wonderwall’ for a long time.
On the other hand, it feels like we’ve now come full circle; singing those famous lyrics at the top of our lungs in a sea of Mancs and fans travelling from all over to Heaton Park for Live ’25 last year felt better than ever, and like we’d all remembered how great a tune it’s always been. So did this…
In fact, this felt so emotional that you’ve got people who aren’t even English praising both those on the pitch and up in the stands for the moment online.
Even the admittedly rather American Man vs Food himself, Adam Richman (though he does have British ancestry), felt compelled to write a moving response on social media: “Shut up. You’re the one that’s crying. Bravo, England.”
He’s far from the only one who was left bowled over by the atmosphere – us included.
What do you think? Is it time for a new go-to tournament anthem for the Three Lions moving forward?
Danny Jones -
12th October 2023 
