Long term Exile Mickey Demetriou has been recognised for his ongoing support for ‘County in the Community’ initiatives and awarded the PFA’s Community Champion Award.
Mickey was nominated for the award after taking part in a number of Foundation initiatives throughout the season. Throughout his 5 seasons with the club, he has been an ambassador for a number of community programmes including College, Primary Stars and Women & Girls whilst currently serving as club ambassador for the Charity Fundraising & Campaigns as well as Soccer Tots.
It was noted that Mickey actively embraced the digital side of player engagement by communicating with the community groups and individuals via Zoom/Teams/Facetime and social media on numerous occasions during the last couple of years.
‘County in the Community’ nominated Mickey for the award earlier this year stating that: “he is always positive when it comes to community engagement and gives his full commitment, just like when he plays for Newport County AFC. He is one of the nicest people you will ever meet and has made a very big impression on participants at a range of school & community sessions over the years.”
Chief Executive Officer for ‘County in the Community’, Norman Parselle said: “Mickey is always generous when giving up his time to support community programmes. He always has time for people no matter what age or background and is a great Ambassador for Newport County AFC”
Speaking about his involvement with ‘County in the Community’, Mickey said: “The hard work that goes into all the ‘County in the Community’ Programmes is second to none. Norman and the rest of the guys put the upmost effort in to making sure every child is planned for whether that is during the school visits, question & answer sessions over Zoom or the half term football camps. The most important thing for me is that during those sessions the children are all enjoying it and have a smile on their faces throughout. Each time I have taken part I can see the happy faces in abundance and that’s a credit to everyone involved in County in the Community. If that is helped just a little bit by me or any other player attending the sessions then it makes it all worth it.
To win this award is a really proud moment, helping out with the club's community projects is something I've always enjoyed doing and something I've always made an effort to be involved with. As players, we have a responsibility to our Club and the City in which we play football to get involved in all the projects because of the fortunate position we're in as Footballers. "