Degrees of Success

ARGYLE are teaming up with Plymouth University for the new Sky Bet League season.

The first big signing of the summer at Home Park sees the University join the Pilgrims as their exclusive back-of-shirt sponsor.

The two-year deal further strengthens ties between two of Britain’s Ocean City’s major institutions, with the Argyle players displaying the message ‘Succeed with Plymouth University’ on the back of their new home and away PUMA shirts.

The University and the Pilgrims already enjoy a mutually beneficial relationship after forging a formal partnership at the beginning of last year which has seen students working with players and management at Argyle as part of their academic programmes. 

Argyle Chief Executive Martyn Starnes said: “We are delighted to take our burgeoning relationship with Plymouth University on to the next level and look forward to further developing the partnership for the benefit of the local community as a whole. 

“We will be welcoming students to Home Park on internships and work-placements, as well as giving the opportunity to students and staff to undertake academic projects in which they utilise the club as part of their educational programmes and world class research. 

“We are planning ‘Student Special’ matches and will provide students and staff with discounted match tickets, and we hope our growing relationship will encourage more of the 28,000 students attending Plymouth University to develop an affinity for Argyle as we bid for promotion from Sky Bet League 2.”

Professor Richard Stephenson, the University’s Interim Deputy Vice-Chancellor, said: “We are delighted to be strengthening our partnership with Plymouth Argyle – it’s a relationship that is bearing real fruit in terms of student employability and opportunity. Not only will this lead to the creation of new internships and placements, but students and staff will be able to undertake academic projects through our connections with the club.”

Already, the partnership between Argyle and the University has seen health students work with the club’s Academy players for the practical element of their degree courses in Nutrition, Exercise and Health, and Health and Fitness. They analysed the players’ intake of energy, fat, carbohydrate, protein, vitamins and minerals, with each player receiving a full breakdown of their diet and advice on how to modify the complex nutritional requirements of elite athletes.

Recently, the club embarked on a wide range of new football-related initiatives designed to create a greater awareness and understanding of the impact that dementia has on people’s lives including a ‘football café’ where activities – from challenges to pure fun – will be based on research identified by the University.

Plymouth University has been at the centre of designing, implementing and supporting the development of the Urban Plymouth Dementia Action Alliance, and is seen by the Prime Minister's Dementia Friendly Communities Challenge as a ‘leader in the field’.