The government of Newfoundland and Labrador has placed ads, on the shirts of Barrow AFC, to advertise a site promoting immigration to Canada.IAN ALLINGTON/Supplied
Canada’s next wave of immigrants, if Newfoundland and Labrador is successful, could be English soccer fans.
The province’s immigration department has launched a recruitment campaign with Barrow Association Football Club, a professional English soccer team whose players are now advertising Newfoundland & Labrador on the front of their jerseys.
The team’s distinctive blue and white, and yellow and black kits, worn at both home and away matches, are also emblazoned with the address of a new immigration website (HomeAwaits.ca) enticing people to emigrate to the province.
The site includes a page entitled ‘Where is Newfoundland and Labrador?’ with maps of the world, and Canada, showing the province’s location.
It boasts that Newfoundland and Labrador is the “happiest province in Canada” according to official statistics, has affordable housing, is perfect for families and is welcoming to newcomers.
“If you have ever dreamed of life in Canada, Newfoundland and Labrador is ready to welcome you,” it says.
Residents of Barrow-in-Furness, a Northern English coastal town, known for building submarines, may not find Atlantic Canada’s blustery weather too unfamiliar or off putting. Barrow is so windy it has become a source of energy, and has the second largest offshore wind farm in the world.
Its soccer club, founded in 1901, is known as the Bluebirds and plays in English soccer’s League Two. Its fortunes have improved since 2020 and its newly signed manager, Stephen Clemence, played with the English Premier League clubs Tottenham Hotspur and Leicester City.
Last month, Barrow AFC’s captain Niall Canavan and its goalkeeper Paul Farman travelled to St. John’s to help with local soccer camps in the province.
Alisha Henry, COO of Barrow AFC, said the government of Newfoundland and Labrador will be the club’s “front-of-shirt sponsor for the next two seasons.” The cost of the partnership was $171,000, including the jersey branding and digital advertising.
“The partnership has generated a lot of enthusiasm among football fans,” she said in a statement. “In the first week of publication, over one million people viewed our kit reveal content.”
Ryan Harding, a spokesman for the province’s Department of Immigration, Population Growth and Skills, said by teaming up with the Barrow soccer club last month, the province can capitalize on the “English football league’s global reach” including those watching broadcasts of games around the world.
“The truly global audience that professional English football has achieved will allow Newfoundland and Labrador to be promoted and featured to millions of viewers as a welcoming place to live and work on an incredible level,” the province’s immigration minister, Gerry Byrne, said in a statement.
In England, soccer fever has reached its peak as the national team has reached the final of the European championship this weekend.
England soccer fans once had a fearsome reputation for hooliganism, but matches tend now to be more temperate, with whole families attending.
Tony Shearer, co-owner of Barrow AFC, an accountant who was chief executive of U.S. company Foodbuy, said he had recently visited Newfoundland and Labrador to meet his club’s new partners.
“There is a natural empathy between our two hard-working blue-collar communities who also enjoy life to the full,” he said in a statement. “We felt so welcome wherever we went, everyone was so friendly and hospitable.”