ABOUT CUP....
The Cup Group started life in 1994 with the first Music Industry Soccer Six. MD Mark Abery`s contacts in music and sport helped him put the tournament together at the Mile End Stadium in East London with the likes of Reef, Gene, Shed 7, Pulp, Blur, and Dodgy taking part. As Soccer Six grew and names like Oasis, Robbie Williams, Rod Stewart, Ant n Dec, and legends like George Best, Kenny Dalglish, Peter Beardsley and many more were added to the list of participants, Soccer Six moved from Mile End to grounds around the country and became a twice yearly event, including Stamford Bridge, Anfield, Goodison Park, the Madjeski, Elland Road, Villa Park and Upton Park among others.
Cup soon devised Lovefootball, London’s free football festival featuring the prestigious Inner City World Cup tournament, where teams of ex pat and second and third generation immigrant communities in the UK play out an amateur world cup tournament in the format of the real thing over one weekend. Lovefootball has grown to incorporate tournaments for all, boys, girls, women’s, veterans, celebrities, disabled and more, as well as non football attractions, including music, arts and more. This year Lovefootball moves from it’s home of 12 years at Wimbledon Common to the impressive facilities and surroundings of Regents Park in the heart of London.
Cup’s celebrity arm has never stopped devising new ideas and concepts and continues to put on unrivalled quality celebrity events, including the Celebrity Netball 7’s and Dunk n Funk, among others. Since those humble beginnings at Mile End, Cup’s celebrity events have raised hundreds of thousands of pounds for charity and generated millions of pounds worth of press coverage.
In 2004, Mark Abery realised a dream by chartering a plane of celebrities from Britain (UK Cup Stars) to play a team of Italian celebrities in Florence. The UK Cup Stars team, including names like Paul Gascgoine, Rod Stewart, Mick Hucknall, Tony Hadley, Paul Young, Ian Rush, Chris Evans and managed by Claudio Ranieri, beat the Italians on penalties. Ten million people watched the event on television and 50,000 in the stadium. The game raised half a million pounds for charity. The UK Cup Stars team will be heading to destinations across the globe to play similar games soon.
Cup’s charity obligations have never stopped and our work in the community continues to grow, with the Community Cup, a tournament for disadvantaged kids in London, just one of our many community projects. Where Lovefootball is concerned, we have united nations, colours, and creeds with over 70 different countries taken part in it’s history. It has been said that the Inner City World Cup achieves more for world peace than a number of politicians achieve in a lifetime!
In 2002 Cup introduced the Musos to its portfolio. The Musos is the quintessential awards ceremony; voted by musicians for musicians it is the most credible awards ceremony in the music calendar. Beginning life at Hackney Ocean and moving to Camden’s prestigious KOKO, the Musos remit has always been to champion new talent and celebrate legends. Previous winners have included Babyshambles, Arctic Monkeys, Paul Weller, Kaiser Chiefs, Damon Albarn, Graham Coxon, Pink Floyd, the Futureheads, Primal Scream and Ian Brown, who said of the event, “I don’t normally do awards ceremonies, but this one means something cos it’s voted by my peers”. Performers have included the Darkness, Reef, Dogs and Shane Macgowan to name a few. The Musos also runs workshops to encourage disadvantaged kids to become interested in music, over a week a group of youngsters from Camden made a record with the help of, among others, Damon Albarn.
At 12 years old Cup continues to go from strength to strength, devising original new formats, fresh ideas and exciting concepts for celebrity, sporting, music, entertainment, and community events. Our extensive team come from varied and experienced backgrounds and with dozens of new projects in the pipeline you’re sure to see a new Cup event soon that catches your eye, whatever your interests.
Please take some time to look around our site and let us know what you think.
