Mecca donates rugby match shirt advertising to Whizz-Kidz

MeccaBingo.com, the current sponsor of rugby league team Wigan Warriors, is donating the shirt sponsorship for the team's match against the French team the Catalan Dragons to Whizz-Kidz, its official charity partner.

Under French advertising legislation gaming brands such as MeccaBingo.com are prohibited from advertising. The decision was taken not to resell the shirt sponsorship for the match and instead donate the opportunity to a charity.

Whizz-Kidz thus becomes the first charity to 'sponsor' the main shirts of a Super League club. In addition to the publicity gained from the sponsorship, the shirts will be auctioned after the match: with only 40 shirts produced, it is expected that fans will be prepared to pay high sums for them.

The shirts will be auctioned off via the club website, eBay and other fundraising channels.

As part of the ongoing 'Mecca Wheel Difference' campaign, Mecca clubs across the UK raised over £286,000 in 2008.

Mick Hogan, Chief Executive of Wigan Warriors, said: "We are delighted that we can promote the Whizz-Kidz charity on our shirts for Monday's game at Catalans Dragons. The charity does some wonderful work and the Whizz-Kidz name will be seen by a big television audience as the game is being shown live on Sky Sports. It is a great idea and money will also be raised by the auctioning of these one off shirts."

www.whizz-kidz.org.uk