Ready Player 2: LDN UTD Join the Game

In 2000, at the inaugural Laureus World Sports Awards, the late great Nelson Mandela declared famously that “sport has the power to change the world. It has the power to inspire. It has the power to unite people in a way that little else does. It speaks to youth in a language they understand. Sport can create hope where once there was only despair. It is more powerful than governments in breaking down racial barriers. It laughs in the face of all types of discrimination.”

Two decades on not only are Mandela’s words truer than ever – but ‘sport’ has a new golden boy.

Esports. One of the fastest growing industries in the world.

That’s why Bloomsbury Football are hugely excited to announce our partnership with LDN UTD.

LDN UTD are an esports organisation who believe that gaming can and should be a platform for something greater. Uniting esports, gaming fans and content creators LDN UTD nurture, develop and educate incredible players and content creators from all backgrounds, promoting healthy lifestyle and social issues. Using premium rosters, their profile and position within the esports community, they are raising awareness around the most important issues in the world today.

Using esports to serve society, to date LDN UTD has addressed critical social issues including knife crime, lockdown isolation, mental health, participation in sport, nutrition and diversity, have raised awareness and funds for CALM (Campaign Against Living Miserably), Street League and Kingston Race and Equalities Council, and have also educationally partnered with the Mayor of London.

And that’s just the start.

Hot off the success of the first edition of UTD Against Racism which happened in September of last year, LDN UTD has partnered with the Rio Ferdinand Foundation for its second iteration. The event, which will take place on the 30th May, will be an opportunity to discuss and address the issue of racism and equality in the sports industry (both physical and digital). The tournament will be a FIFA 21 event on PS4 in which each participant will be partnered with a celebrity in order to try and make it to the finals. There will be interviews with guest speakers and celebrities in between matches so that they can share their experiences and discuss how we can all do better to become more inclusive. Here, Bloomsbury Football’s partnership with LDN UTD will be formally announced, and it will see one of our Bloomsbury players take part in the event against celebrities including Devon Peterson, Kirbz and many others.

Speaking on the partnership, our founder and CEO Charlie Hyman expressed: “we’re excited to partner with LDN UTD, who share the vision of creating healthy lifestyles and tackling social issues amongst young people through (e)sport. We see this as a fantastic opportunity to continue to engage young people through new avenues, while continuing to use sport as a tool to overcome barriers to participation”.

Oliver Weingarten, Founder and CEO of LDN UTD said, “with our strong ethos around healthy lifestyle, and previously linking participation in sport with gaming, the partnership with Bloomsbury Football is a natural extension of continuing to showcase our values, and use esports as an educative tool”.

2 of the biggest sports in the world: football and gaming, has seen the charity using the power of football to improve the lives of young people and the esports organisation using gaming as a platform for something greater, link up in the capital. We can’t wait to embark on our journey together, continuing to collectively use the power of sport, to “change the world”.