FA Cup winning Peterborough United amputee team in desperate need of sponsorship

The team are amongst the very best in the country when it comes to amputee football, having won the National title twice and the FA Disability Cup three out of the four times it has been held.

The club are the reigning Southern League, National League and FA Disability Cup champions. They won the league titles the last time they were completed in the 2018/19 season and they won the FA Disability Cup in a special occasion in July.

Teilo Pearce’s side beat Portsmouth on penalties in front of the BT Sport cameras in what was the first ever televised amputee football match.

The side was heavily represented in Owen Coyle Jr’s England side that finished 5th at the 2021 European Amputee Football Championship in Krakow, Poland this month and even boast a Tokyo 2020 paralympic medalist in their midst.

Ben Fox helped Great Britain’s wheelchair basketball team to the bronze medal with victory over Spain in the Bronze Medal Match.

Following a trophy-laiden spell in charge, Pearce stepped down from coaching staff after the FA Cup success and Mark Smith has taken over as player-manager.

The 36-year-old was one of one the biggest personalities in the dressing room before the appointment and the ex-military man, who has twice won the ‘Britain’s Strongest Disabled Man’ title, is looking to carry on the success.

This season, Posh are looking to enter a team into both the Premiership, alongside the likes of Man City and Everton and the Championship, whic has teams such as Arsenal, Newcastle, Brighton and West Brom among their members.

The team are extremely grateful for the backing they already receive from local charity the Free Kicks Foundation and law-firm CFG Law but they require more to help them stay at the top of the game.

New sponsorship would be put towards a new second kit and training gear for the whole squad, which can be very expensive in amputee football.

Mark said: “With Teilo stepping down, the role was offered to myself, which I jumped at! I’ve been a player in this team for going into four seasons now and I love it and I’m proud to continue the work Teilo put in and build on it.

“The players have been fantastic with the new ideas and style that I’ve brought in and I cannot wait for the league to start, so that we can show how much we’ve progressed.

“The thing that quickly became apparent once I took over was that sponsorship would be a big thing if we wanted to progress and we are very fortunate to have the support of Free Kicks and CFG Law, but in comparison to other teams in the league, who turn up in full tracksuits, t-shirts etc, it looks very professional and I think that’s something our players, for all their efforts, deserve.

“So it would be great to possibly get more funding and sponsorships in order to compete at that level and represent the club as best we can off the pitch as well as on it.”

The squad is made up of players that are based across the country, spread between Suffold, Essex, Milton Keynes and London to name a few and have a group that train in Cambridge every Tuesday evening.

The club’s official training sessions start on Thursday (September 30) though at Nene Park Academy on Oundle Road and will be weekly.

The season will then begin on October 9 and 10, with the Pre-season cup, with the Premiership and Championship sides getting their league seasons underway on November 13 and 14 respectively.

Those interested in providing sponsorship can contact the club via the Peterborough United Football Club Amputee Football Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/pufcamputee.