Utilita, which has a large proportion of staff from North-East England and an office in Gateshead’s Team Valley trading estate, has strengthened its links to the local area by backing the club to make a return to the fifth tier of English football.

The partnership will see Utilita have a significant presence at renowned, multi-purpose Gateshead International Stadium at home fixtures.

The energy supplier will also be involved with Gateshead FC Foundation – a charity which uses the power of sport to provide meaningful education, employability, health, inclusion, environmental, and sport programmes – and support the Junior Heed Club during the upcoming season.

James Rushmore, Communications & Marketing Development Officer, said: “This is an incredibly exciting partnership that has been in the works for a few months.

“Utilita will have a significant presence across the club’s social media channels and will also sponsor aspects of the Gateshead FC Foundation.

“We can’t wait to watch the partnership flourish over the coming season.”

Jem Maidment, Utilita’s Chief Marketing Officer, comments on the ongoing partnership: “We’re proud to become the ‘official partner’ of Gateshead FC – a club that many of our employees hailed from the North East support and follow, with a Utilita office just a stone’s throw away from the Gateshead International Stadium.

‘We’re also very much looking forward to playing a bigger part in the community with the work with Gateshead FC Foundation and supporting the Junior Heed Club.

“We’re excited for the future with Gateshead FC!”

The announcement follows Utilita’s newly launched Football Rebooted campaign with environmentalist and former goalkeeper, David James MBE, which encourages people to donate and claim pre-played football boots and Astro boots to save families a small fortune, as well as 136,000 tonnes of carbon – the same as taking 7,000 cars off the road for a year, or turning the energy off in one million medium-sized houses for a week.

Football Rebooted is designed to put an aspirational spin on a mechanic that will get good boots through to families struggling to afford new ones, after Utilita’s State of Play report revealed that out of the 74 percent of families who had been impacted financially by the pandemic, 18 percent won’t be able to send their kids back to grassroots football as they can’t afford boots and other items such as goalie gloves and shin pads.

Central to the partnership will be Utilita’s industry award-winning Energy High 5 movement – helping households to avoid the five most common habits that waste energy, enabling households to save up to £163 per year, while helping the planet. Everyone can take part and start saving today, at www.utilita.co.uk/energyhigh5.

Founded in 2003, Utilita is one of the nation’s fastest-growing independent energy suppliers – currently powering more than 800,000 UK customers.

It has established itself as a hugely recognisable brand within British football, having supplied power to a number of iconic stadiums while partnering with over 20 clubs.