CLUB STATEMENT REGARDING ADVERT

The Club are very mindful of the response received on both the website Forum and other Social Media to the placing of a BetVictor advert on the website.

We thought it would be helpful to set out the Club’s position in relation to this.

We are a member Club of the Southern League, and as such may from time to time have obligations to fulfil in relation to League directives, instructions and mandates. We were one of eighteen clubs selected to undertake a six-week trial to advertise for potential new and lucrative sponsors for the Southern League. We therefore have an obligation to fulfil to the Southern League, and have gone about doing so as mandated for this six-week trial period, as have the other seventeen Clubs selected by the Southern League for this trial.

Whatever personal or collective views may be held, it should also be remembered that an increasing number of Leagues, Clubs and Cup competitions, even at the highest level, are at the present time being financially supported by betting companies. That is a fact of the time and environment in which we live, however it is viewed or received.

In Hitchin Town’s case, the Club Management Committee has agreed that we will donate the fee that we receive from this trial to a suitable and worthy Charity. We believe that in the present circumstances, that is the most positive gesture we can make.