Luck of the draw: N.L. ads to be featured in match against football giants Chelsea

The kit features N.L. ads. (Barrow FC)

When underdogs Barrow AFC stride into legendary Stamford Bridge Tuesday to take on British giants Chelsea, it won’t just be players with butterflies in their stomachs.

So too will staff at the Confederation Building, the provincial parliament in Newfoundland and Labrador, who will learn how far their investment in the fourth-division soccer team can take them.

“I believe there’s a chanting section and a non-chanting section. I think I’m in the non-chanting section,” said Sarah Stoodley, Newfoundland and Labrador’s minister of immigration, who is travelling to London to take in the game on Tuesday.

“It’ll be a very unique experience.”

Thanks to a sponsorship by Newfoundland and Labrador’s provincial government, Barrow’s players will be wearing jerseys with ads promoting immigration to the province. The fixture against Chelsea will put those ads in front of about 40,000 fans at Stamford Bridge, and thousands more watching on TV.

“It’s like winning the lottery, I think,” said Josh Healey, a freelance soccer journalist from Newfoundland. “That’s one of the biggest clubs in world football.”

Newfoundland and Labrador paid $171,000 to sponsor Barrow AFC for two years. The deal gets them a front logo on Barrow’s jersey, and, by extension, their advertising in front of football fans in stadiums in England.

“We are targeting people who feel like they might not fit in in the U.K. anymore,” said Stoodley.

She said the province needs doctors, social workers, construction workers and early childhood educators — and changing immigration policies and attitudes in the United Kingdom may have them thinking of leaving the country.

“We want to raise our hand and say, ‘Come to Newfoundland and Labrador,’ and we need to be there in front of them when they’re making that decision.”

The structure of British football’s cup competitions often puts smaller clubs, like Barrow AFC, sitting on the fourth tier of the football ladder, into matches against dominant Premier League teams. The matchup against Chelsea was determined by a lottery ball draw.

“Newfoundland and Labrador is getting their money’s worth out of that one, for sure,” said Colin Dalton, one of the owners of the Duke of Duckworth, a favourite bar for soccer fans in downtown St. John’s.

“How much would that advertising cost?” he asked. “$100,000 a game, maybe?”

Although Chelsea is unlikely to field its absolute top players, it will still be remarkable for Barrow to pull off an upset and shock the fans at the bridge.

“It’s a night you’ll remember forever, whatever the result,” said Healey. “If they do manage to slay the giant, as it were, that becomes the stuff of legend.”

Dalton will show the game, which is being televised at his downtown bar. He figures there will be a good crowd around to watch the start of the match, to see how the underdogs do.

“It will be interesting if they hold their own, that’s all they’ve got to do,” he said.

Stoodley is taking a diplomatic approach to forecasting Barrow’s result.

“I can’t comment on the likelihood of their win or loss, but certainly a lot of eyes on Newfoundland and Labrador, and we’re very proud of the sponsorship.”