Media owners from all over Melbourne converged on Fawkner Park last Friday to compete for glory (and settle some old scores) in ‘The Big Issue (TBI) Media Cup’, organised in conjunction with the TBI’s media agency, Carat.
The Media Cup saw teams from Nova Entertainment, oOH!, Nine, SBS, Seven, MCN, SCA, Fairfax, and Carat square off in a round-robin street soccer tournament that quickly revealed most players would be best-advised to stick to their day jobs.
Thanks to a number of standout individual performances, Carat emerged victorious over Nova in the finals. The big game was played in front of a crowd including vendors, amused colleagues, and The Big Issue’s Amy Hetherington (editor), Emma O’Halloran (National Marketing Manager), and George Halkias (National Soccer Coach).
Street soccer is an ongoing community program run by The Big Issue around the country, engaging homeless, marginalized and disadvantaged Australians through the power of sport. The magazine, which relies solely on the donation of ad space to promote their important cause, organised The Media Cup as a way of thanking media owners for their existing support, as well as generating interest for the year ahead.
On that note, a very special thank you goes out to Nova Entertainment for generously donating the AV system, SBS for the delicious catering, and Fairfax for the winner’s prizes.
Carat Melbourne MD Joseph Pardillo said of their partnership with TBI: “The Big Issue are extremely smart operators whose ingenuity and compassion has saved lives and restored dignity to thousands of Australians. We’re proud to play even a small part in their success.”
He was also quick to shoot down any rumors of match-fixing, saying his team only chanted ‘contract re-negotiations’ within earshot of their opponents as it was the code name for their winning play.
To find out more about the great work being done by The Big Issue, visit their website: http://www.thebigissue.org.au/
