Rob Messina Named as Bolton Wanderers in the Community’s Community Captain for Premier League More Than A Game Initiative

Over the next two weeks, the Premier League and clubs will be celebrating ‘More Than A Game’ and highlighting the positive impact of Premier League investment into communities and clubs at every level of football.

The Premier League is investing £1.6 billion into wider football and communities between 2022 and 2025 to support football at every level of the game across England and Wales. This world-leading funding into clubs, communities and facilities positively impacts and inspires millions of people.

As part of ‘More Than A Game’, the League will be celebrating more than 100 Community Captains – individuals nominated by Premier League, EFL and National League clubs for their contribution to their local community via programmes funded by the Premier League.

Rob has been chosen as BWitC’s 2025 Community Captain for his incredible commitment to our community. Having Joined the charity in 2015 Rob has worked across our school provisions including the Premier League Primary Stars programme which started in 2017. Rob supports local Primary Schools through the delivery of high quality PE CPD to teachers, English and PSHE interventions, Social Action Projects, anti-discrimination workshops and playing a huge part in competitions. He is meticulous in his planning and his delivery which means that every session is the very best that it can be. The impact Rob has had within the charity’s partner schools and local community is best reflected through feedback from the people he has worked with:

Jen Ashcroft, Clerical Assistant at Washacre Primary School shared “Rob is the most genuine person I have ever met; he is always friendly when visiting school and nothing is too much trouble. He goes above and beyond to ensure that every lesson he delivers is 100%. He even takes time out of his personal schedule to help with competitions and sports day and even the Christmas parties. He is always so caring and takes an interest in how staff are and has built some lovely work relationships within school. Robs hard work and commitment within school never goes unnoticed and we would be lost without him.”

Year 5 Students at Masefield Primary School said of Rob:

“I love Rob’s sessions because they are fun and engaging, and has introduced me to sports that I have never done before!”

“I think that Rob’s sessions have been fabulous because I have so much fun without realising how active I have been.”

“Thank you, Rob, for making sports so much fun at Masefield! Your lessons are always exciting, and you make learning new skills really easy and enjoyable. You’ve taught us how to work as a team, try our best, and never give up. I always look forward to PE because of you, and you’ve helped me feel more confident in sports. Thank you for being such an awesome coach and for making PE my favorite part of the week!”

When asked, the BWitC Premier League Primary Stars Project Officer, Joe Conway, said of Rob “I cannot think of anyone more deserving of an award, as this kind of work can largely go unnoticed because the quality is continually high. It is so important to recognise the hard work that Rob does every day that people don’t see. So many people appreciate him and his work, and this means that Premier League Primary Stars run smoothly constantly. Thank you Rob!”

BWitC are proud to celebrate the achievements of our chosen Premier League Community Captain, Rob, recognising the instrumental role they played in helping the BWitC Education Team deliver consistently within 10 schools, supporting the delivery of their 52 weekly individual sessions, reaching over 700 participants last season (23/24).

Lisa Simpson, Bolton Wanderers in the Community’s Education Manager: “Rob has been with us for over 9 years and has helped us to shape and deliver our Premier League Primary Stars Programme during that period. His work ethic can’t be beat, and this is reflected in the feedback from fellow colleagues, teachers and students. Rob embodies everything that the Community Champion stands for and therefore I couldn’t think of a better person to be recognised.”

Premier League Director of Community Nick Perchard said: “It is so important that we continue to recognise and collectively highlight the positive impact that work within local communities has, championing those at the heart of Premier League-funded initiatives. Success on the pitch enables the Premier League to share unparallelled investment into communities and football at all levels across England and Wales.”

The Premier League Primary Stars programme has reached over 19,000 schools and more than 70,000 teachers since 2017, reaching around 1.3 million pupils in the 2023-24 academic year alone. At the heart of the Premier League Primary Stars programme is a commitment to empowering teachers and inspiring pupils. Premier League Primary Stars offers every primary school in England and Wales over 650 free curriculum-linked resources across subjects like PE, PSHE, English, and Maths.

For more information on Premier League Primary Stars and how we can support your school delivery please contact Joe at jconway@bwitc.org.uk