https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/sport/football/irish-league/bring-them-home-larne-football-club-spreading-festive-cheer-by-reuniting-families-this-christmas/a1990149220.html
An Irish League club is aiming to spread some festive cheer by reuniting families this Christmas.
Larne FC’s ‘Bring them Home’ community competition enables a resident of the town to nominate a friend or relative living abroad to be flown home.
The winner will receive a pair of return flights, and four tickets to Larne’s home game against Linfield on December 30.
The club’s chief marketing officer Chris Liddle explained: “The initial ‘Bring Them Home’ campaign first ran back at Christmas 2018.
“The club had just been taken over by Kenny Bruce and some investments were added and the community campaign project was the first major marketing campaign that the club had run.”
Five years ago, the competition brought Larne native Lee Millar home from Qatar to spend Christmas with his family after he had been nominated by his mother Mandy.
Since then, the club has grown, becoming Irish League champions for the first time last season.
And Mr Liddle believes they have the resources – and ambition – to do it “bigger and better this time around”.
The club has partnered with charity Brighter Futures and local travel agents Holiday Hotspot to help run the competition.
The only exception is that each family member nominated must be born and raised in Larne.
According to Mr Liddle, the purpose of the competition is for the club to “give something back to the community”.
He added: “Christmas is a special time for communities across the country and Larne is a tightly-knitted community with the football club being the forefront of that.
“We wanted to reward the community for their support over the past five years since we ran the initial competition.”
Many families who apply for the competition include members who have lived overseas for 10-15 years and haven’t been home since.
The aim is to help bring families back together at a special time of the year, Mr Liddle explained.
The last campaign the club ran in 2018 received just over 100 entries but this year the club has already got close to that in the first week of the competition being open.
Applications have come from far and wide including the UK, Australia and Asia.
Larne chairman Gareth Clements said he hoped it would make it a Christmas to remember for one family in the community.
“This year, we’ll be playing our part by bringing someone home to their family and creating a memorable Christmas for those involved,” he said.
Mr Clements said Larne FC works closely with the community each week through local schools and community groups, but is hoping the Christmas competition tops everything they have done to date.
“Everything we do is ultimately for the town of Larne and to raise the profile of Larne and to give the people of the town something to celebrate and to shout about,” he said.
Larne, who beat Linfield 2-1 on Saturday evening, are second in the Sports Direct Premiership, five points behind the table-topping Blues.
The competition is free to enter and winners are picked completely at random.
by LoveLaughLarne