Advertisement
News

VIDEO: Big Issue vendors and Southampton FC star on Match of the Day

After partnering with Saints to provide their programme on the Premier League opening day, The Big Issue was a hit on the iconic BBC football highlights show on Sunday

Big Issue vendors were such a hit when they descended on Southampton FC that they have now become stars on Match of the Day.

A team of 14 vendors made the switch from their pitches to a pitch of another kind at St Mary’s Stadium on August 12 to sell the special edition of the magazine at St Mary’s Stadium as Saints drew 0-0 with Swansea City in their Premier League opener.

And their exploits caught the attention of the BBC film crews, who filmed a three-minute feature video that aired on Sunday alongside the latest highlights of this week’s matches.

The video features an interview with Big Issue editor Paul McNamee as well as footage of Saints stars Florin Gardos, Manolo Gabbiadini, Nathan Redmond and Oriol Romeu joining vendors on the streets of Winchester to sell the magazine ahead of the game.

The short segment on Match of the Day had football fans, led by former Olympian Iwan Thomas, flocking to Twitter to praise the partnership between Southampton FC and The Big Issue following the Sunday morning airing on BBC One.

Advertisement
Advertisement

https://twitter.com/KojoAsante19/status/899172839600861184

https://twitter.com/SpotOnIan/status/899172333558091776

Any readers who missed the special edition, which is part of the unique link-up between Southampton FC and The Big Issue that will see vendors given the chance to earn long-term employment opportunities at the club, can still get hold of a copy from The Big Issue Shop.

The magazine features:

  • Charlie Austin looks forward to the new campaign after seeing a promising season last term harshly curtailed by a five-month injury lay-off. The Southampton goal machine had racked up a healthy return of nine goals before dislocating his shoulder last December and missed February’s EFL Cup Final defeat to Manchester United as a result. Austin insists he wants to hit the ground running and re-ignite his goalscoring exploits under the tutelage of new Saints boss Mauricio Pellegrino.
  • Legendary Saints’ FA Cup-winning former manager Lawrie McMenemy takes a nostalgic look back through his life and career in his Letter To My Younger Self. The 81-year-old reveals how he almost joined Manchester United and names Kevin Keegan his all-time best signing. It’s a candid, fascinating conversation, and another golden instalment to our unmissable archive of Letter To My Younger Self interviews.
  • St Mary’s hero Francis Benali looks ahead to the new league season. The former defender, who made more than 300 Saints appearances, also offers an insight into his extensive charity work.
  • Read more about the everyday life-changing work of the Saints Foundation. Like The Big Issue, the Foundation helps to give both young and old in society a helping hand. Explore how the club’s official charity has helped transform the lives of three men who had fallen on hard times, and discover how the charity’s Youth Inclusion and Generation Gains programmes impact the local community. The work of the Saints Foundation is also felt globally: find out about the organisation’s link-up with Mary’s Meals, a charity that provides school dinners to deprived children all over the world.
  • Find out about how the club’s rich history in the community, from the city’s St Mary’s church through to their three consecutive Southern League titles, led Saints to become the Premier League juggernaut that they are today.
Advertisement

Change a vendor's life this Christmas

This Christmas, 3.8 million people across the UK will be facing extreme poverty. Thousands of those struggling will turn to selling the Big Issue as a vital source of income - they need your support to earn and lift themselves out of poverty.

Recommended for you

Read All
'Where's the compassion?': Council refuses to give 11-year-old boy his father's ashes after funeral
Funeral poverty

'Where's the compassion?': Council refuses to give 11-year-old boy his father's ashes after funeral

DWP benefit reforms to get people into work are 'smokescreen for cuts', disability activist says
dwp secretary liz kendall
Disability benefits

DWP benefit reforms to get people into work are 'smokescreen for cuts', disability activist says

Ending post-Grenfell cladding crisis could take until 2035 and beyond: 'Unacceptably slow'
Grenfell tower
Cladding crisis

Ending post-Grenfell cladding crisis could take until 2035 and beyond: 'Unacceptably slow'

We've given 50,000 haircuts to homeless people – here's how a simple trim can change everything
Photo of man hugging a woman to illustrate a story about the Haircuts 4 Homeless charity
Homelessness

We've given 50,000 haircuts to homeless people – here's how a simple trim can change everything

Most Popular

Read All
Renters pay their landlords' buy-to-let mortgages, so they should get a share of the profits
Renters: A mortgage lender's window advertising buy-to-let products
1.

Renters pay their landlords' buy-to-let mortgages, so they should get a share of the profits

Exclusive: Disabled people are 'set up to fail' by the DWP in target-driven disability benefits system, whistleblowers reveal
Pound coins on a piece of paper with disability living allowancve
2.

Exclusive: Disabled people are 'set up to fail' by the DWP in target-driven disability benefits system, whistleblowers reveal

Cost of living payment 2024: Where to get help now the scheme is over
next dwp cost of living payment 2023
3.

Cost of living payment 2024: Where to get help now the scheme is over

Citroën Ami: the tiny electric vehicle driving change with The Big Issue
4.

Citroën Ami: the tiny electric vehicle driving change with The Big Issue