Spartans to Compete for Supporters Direct Shield

Our game against Dunstable FC on Sunday in the Better Together Cup, will also see us compete for the Supporters Direct Shield - an FSA-supported competition.

The Supporters Direct Shield, along with the Brian Lomax Cup, are a pair of trophies which have been competed for over the last two decades as a way of bringing together fans from across the country, and on Sunday Spartans will be competing against a fellow community-owned club, Dunstable FC, for the SD Shield.

First held back in 2002, when AFC Wimbledon beat Enfield Town 3-2, the silverware is named after Brian Lomax - considered the founding father of the supporters' trust movement - and Supporters Direct, one of the forerunner organisations which went on to become the Football Supporters' Association.

Brian sadly passed away in 2015, but his name lives on thanks to these series of pre-season friendlies that help celebrate his legacy.

The trophies serve as an opportunity to bring together community-owned clubs from across the country to celebrate fan ownership, by putting together fixtures that ordinarily wouldn't take place in the normal run of a season.

Previous winners include AFC Wimbledon, Rushden and Diamonds, FC United of Manchester and Merthyr Town.

Tickets for this weekend's games can be purchased here.