Facebook group backs bid
Back Leicester's bid www.england2018bid.com
News release: Courtesy of Leicester City Council Press Office 13/07/2009
THE CAMPAIGN to bring the FIFA World Cup to Leicester in 2018 now has its own fan base on Facebook.
Leicester City fan Ryan Hubbard formed the group in May, as soon as he heard that Leicester would be bidding for host city status. Since then, more than 1,000 people have joined the online group – and that number is rising steadily.
"I originally started the group to let my friends, family and colleagues know about the bid," said Ryan.
"But, all of a sudden, my friends invited their friends and the number shot up to over 700. Now we’ve got more than 1,300 people in the group."
Like many Leicester City fans, Ryan would love to bring the World Cup to the Walkers Stadium.
"As I was born in Leicester, and have lived here all my life, I am very proud of my city. It would be fantastic to show our city off to the world.
"And as we are such a multi-cultural city, the public would be very welcoming to foreign fans and the atmosphere would be fantastic.
"But it would also attract massive investment and tourism to the city – and that would benefit everyone."
Leader of Leicester City Council, Cllr Ross Willmott, is delighted that people are getting behind the city’s bid.
"It’s really important we show the FA that we want to host the biggest event in the world," he said.
"Ryan’s initiative is a big boost to our campaign. He’s doing a great job in raising awareness of Leicester’s bid and we appreciate his efforts very much indeed."
Ryan believes that his group, ‘Back Leicester’s Bid for the World Cup 2018/2022’, now has more members than any other prospective World Cup host city on Facebook – but he’d still like to attract more people.
"We’ll keep inviting people to join the group and get them to choose Leicester as their preferred host city on the official England 2018 Bid site," he said. "We need everyone to support Leicester’s bid!"
To follow the group’s progress, or to join the group and expand its fan base, log on to: www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=79506791389
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