As there are so many fans on here who have been coming up with some great ideas recently I thought id ask the question...........

Im involved with a local football team - Wakefield City FC - who have been going now for the last 40 years. At one point back in the 1990's we were running 4 senior teams on a Saturday afternoon, 2 senior teams on a Sunday morning and 3 junior teams.

Due to the financial climate over the past 5/6 years our numbers have fallen so much that now we field only 1 Saturday team and this looks like folding at the end of the season as well due to lack of funds !!

The cost of running amateur football/rugby league clubs is rising so steeply and raising funds to be able to continue is becoming harder and harder.

We are holding a reunion night down at our home ground on Saturday 4th June and are inviting all ex players, coaches, managers to come down and join us. Part of the evening will involve an auction - so with this in mind I have written to Barnsley, Leeds, Huddersfield Town, Wakefield Trinity Wildcats, Castleford Tigers & Leeds Rhinos to see if they would donate a prize we can auction off.

So far just the one reply - from the Leeds Rhinos who have given me a signed 1st team shirt and 2 tickets to any home game this season ! Fantastic and hopefully we raise a few quid on our night.

Does anyone else on here know of any other fund raising events we could look at ?? Do any of you on here run amateur clubs in Wakefield and raise funds ?

Its so difficult and I really dont want to see our club fold after 40 years

Any ideas or suggestions would be much appreciated..........

Cheers.

Sportsmans dinners usually go down well but the down side is the initial outlay of funds. Race nights casino nights (you can. Hire casino games and croupiers). With it being a football club how about a five a side tournament. Teams of 7 or 8 £35 or £40 a team. Get local businesses to donate prizes and do food and refreshments throughout the day, (bbq weather permitting) have tombola stalls, beat the keeper competition £1 entry to score a penalty, have various raffles and maybe an auction at the end of the evening. Bouncer castle for the kids face painting balloon modelling. Fancy dress pub crawl or golf game pub crawl collecting in buckets

Cheers for your input mate - we have thought about the 5-a-side tournament and may try and organise something in July/August.

Ive written to many big businesses but they tend to only sponsor kids teams.

Pub crawl in fancy dress sounds good !!

Professional rugby/football/whatever clubs get lots of similar requests for help every month. I used to be involved in junior rugby league and found that the Rhino's always seemed to be able to donate something for fundraising - either a player or two's presence at an event or a signed shirt or something, but the rest were very hit and miss.

One thing we tried that did work was to buy a few rugby balls and use our contacts at Wakey, Leeds, Huddersfield etc to get the balls signed - most players are happy to sign a ball or two that are left around for that purpose in the changing rooms after training. Problem with that is you need a contact in the club and someone has to pay for the balls although they can be found at discount prices sometimes.

Similarly a contact could get a shirt signed but someone has to fund the cost of the shirt.

I have also PM'd you with some other info.

Good luck!

You can always ask on here see if anyone has anything they could donate for you!

True !

HAS ANYONE GOT ANYTHING THEY CAN DONATE ( FOR AN AUCTION ) TO SAVE A LOCAL FOOTBALL CLUB FROM CLOSURE AFTER 40 YEARS ?

Just had todays post and still only a reply from the Rhinos so far ! Their not everybodys cup of tea but fair play to them for donating what they have.......especially for a football team and one that plays in Wakefield !!

Open to suggestions everyone

Have you been to local shops / pubs ask for a donation, better in person as its harder to say no

Get the kids to do a supermarket bagging day

We once did a sponsored step class in the middle of Cas, We got the under 18s in leotards on the precinct.

We're down to just 1 senior side now binks

In the past the juniors did the bagging at Asda in Sandal and made a fortune !!

491 views !! Surely some good ideas out there ?

........or offers of donations

Some possible ideas:

1) Calendar girls stylee calendar (I know it's the wrong time of year but potential for next year).
2) Sponsored bus/ fire engine/ other big vehicle pull.
3) Car wash (the firemen do it and make a fortune).
4) Fundraising fair in conjunction with a local school, split any money 50/50.

Also, it may be worthwhile contacting local restaurants to see if they'll donate any meal for two (or family) type prizes.

I'll see if I can think of any better ideas to add on.

Cheers Bicket - some great ideas there.

If you are still running with an Auction night, then get in touch with P&O at Hull. They are quite good at giving away mini-cruises for 2 people to purely get you to advertise the mini cruises, so to speak!

Cheers IA - will try them this afternoon !!

Race nights usually raise a few quid.