LONDON, Monday 23 September: Tottenham Hotspur is delighted to announce the creation of the first ever Official NHS Supporters’ Club in professional football.

 

NHS Spurs brings together fans from across the country working in the NHS, uniting staff from all sectors of the service.

Inspired by the groundbreaking creation of our Official Armed Forces Spurs Supporters’ Club more than a decade ago, NHS Spurs will similarly provide a community and network of supporters of the Club connected through their employment.

This summer we also became the first to launch an Official Supporters’ Club for dog-lovers – Tottenham Hotspaw – to unite our fans around two of their passions, their football club and their beloved pets. Tottenham Hotspaw members also have the opportunity to feature their pets as a ‘Dog of the Match’ on our big screens at home fixtures, alongside a rescue dog that charity All Dogs Matter currently have up for adoption.

Representatives from NHS Spurs were in attendance during Saturday’s home fixture against Brentford to speak about the group’s formation. Amongst the attendees at the game were two of the group’s founders, Lawrence Tallon and Gareth Stockley.

Stockley, who works in a focussed Armed Forces Programme at Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust, will be the first Chairman of NHS Spurs.

“Normally, my role would be relatively restricted in reach across the wider Trust to clinical and non-clinical staff”, Stockley says. “However, the mutual love for the Club has brought together a really diverse group of individuals across all sectors, roles and backgrounds in the Trust which may not have happened otherwise.

“The group communicate about all things Spurs via a dedicated WhatsApp group, which includes images of us attending matches, events or bumping into current and former Spurs players or people associated with the Club.”

Tallon, who is Deputy Chief Executive at Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust and will be the first President of NHS Spurs, added: “In line with our Club’s proud history of firsts, we are delighted to launch the first Official NHS Supporters’ Club for a football team in the country. We are a diverse group brought together by two things: our deep commitment to caring for our patients in the NHS and our shared love of Spurs.”

The Club is a long-standing supporter of its local hospital services and stepped up its support during the Covid-19 pandemic, when we opened up our Stadium to host North Middlesex University Hospital’s Women’s Outpatient services, using the stadium car park as a drive through testing area.

Donna-Maria Cullen, Executive Director, Tottenham Hotspur, said: “It never fails to amaze us how a mutual love of our Club has the ability to bring people together across all walks of life, anywhere in the world and in any profession. NHS Spurs is another example of this and we are extremely proud to see the group launch and receive such a fantastic response from across the service.”

NHS Spurs joins a network of 558 Official Supporters’ Clubs around the world, spanning over 100 territories.

Keep up to date with all the latest news around NHS Spurs and find out how you can support the group here.