This is one of the most adventurous of campaigns from the British Hedgehog Preservation Society - Hobsons' Hedgehog Cup - a competition between football teams all in the name of hedgehogs!
So - when it comes to football and hedgehogs the associations are usually negative. There are horrible headlines of people using hogs as footballs - and then there are the nets, left dangling on the ground which entrap the poor animals.
This is as different as could be!
The Hedgehog Cup sees the 47 clubs in the Hedgehog Friendly Football League drawn to ‘play’ each other – not to score goals on the pitch, but to score points by carrying out hedgehog-friendly actions.
The Round 1 draw took place on 27 February 2024, broadcast across BHPS’s social media platforms, featuring a special announcement from BHPS patron, Megan McCubbin.
The top clubs in the Hedgehog Friendly Football League have automatically qualified for Round 2. The remaining 28 clubs have been drawn at random to play against each other and now have six weeks to score points before Round 2 is drawn. There will be six rounds in total, with the Hedgehog Cup final scheduled for Autumn 2024.
The Cup is an opportunity for smaller clubs to take on Premier League giants in the battle to win a piece of silverware to show they care for wildlife and the environment!
Fay Vass, Chief Executive at BHPS said: “Whilst there may not be many hedgehogs at the stadiums, there certainly will be in fans gardens and maybe at training grounds too, so it’s vital we get the message out there about being mindful of wildlife when we do maintenance or gardening.
“This is the first ever Hobsons’ Hedgehog Cup, and we’re really excited to see all 48 clubs get stuck in and encourage their Men’s, Women’s and Academy teams to all get involved in scoring points.
“Hedgehog numbers are in serious decline and it’s more important than ever that we stand together to help protect their welfare and habitats –supporting the Cup and the Hedgehog Friendly Football League is a brilliant way to do just that.”
Charlie Farman, Marketing Manager for Hobsons Brewery, said: “We’re really excited to be sponsoring the inaugural Hedgehog Cup – it’s a fantastic way for football clubs and fans to do something positive for hedgehog welfare and to help protect our native wildlife.
“We’ve long been supporters of BHPS and its important conservation work around the UK and can’t wait to see football clubs across the country doing their bit to help hedgehogs!”
Do you support a football team? Are they in the cup? Could you reach out to them and see if they could become involved? It would be amazing to see this spread far and wide!
And do any of you know Gary Lineker? He would be a perfect ambassador for our favourite prickly beasties!
As you will by now be aware, change.org have changed the way these updates work and removed the capacity we had to continue the conversation beneath the updates. So - please - if you can - share your thoughts via the lovely Hedgehog Highways Facebook Group.
Finally - a week today my new book launches into the wild ... I have just had the first review in, which had it as Geographical Magazine's Book of the Month! And the Natural History Book Service has just published the Q&A I wrote about the book - and you can buy the book from there - or your local bookshop ... or - I have just found that the cheapest place to buy my new book is from the wonderful people at WildSounds!