What started as a pledge between friends in a Facebook group has quickly become a fully-fledged sponsorship drive as Sydney FC’s supporter base The Cove close in on their target of $9900 to sponsor three players from our Westfield W-League team for season 2015/16.
It was a comment from Sydney FC volunteer Ross Anderson that first piqued The Cove’s interest about a possible sponsorship.
“A post from Ross Anderson on Facebook looking to get corporate sponsors for the W-league team [was our inspiration],” said The Cove spokesperson Steve Southworth.
“Our initial target was one player. We first canvassed a Facebook group for people to pledge money to the cause and within one hour we had $2000 pledged.
“Grant Muir set up the donations bucket on www.sfcu.com.au and we raised another $1600 in four hours. The general response was extremely positive.
“We also received numerous tweets from football pundits and media coverage which gave it a real boost,” he continued.
Southworth hopes that those who have donated can make it out to the games with round one kicking off on Sunday 18 October at Lambert Park, Leichhardt.
“We are hoping the 146 people who have helped this will come to more W-league games and that the players get an extra moral boost knowing The Cove has supported them.”
With an initial target of sponsoring one player, the supporter group’s appeal has spread far and wide and with nearly $10,000 already raised the group are now hoping to sponsor three players, something Southworth is thrilled with.
“We are extremely pleased and proud of the Sydney FC community,” Southworth said.
“We also like to thank [Sydney FC CEO] Tony Pignata for understanding what we were looking to achieve and reducing the price and removing the items for the fan led initiative.
“The Cove have done little bits to help the girls in the past but this is the biggest and best support we’ve done for W-league. The response we’ve received and the amount of generosity of all the football community is amazing.”
Sydney FC’s Westfield W-League squad kick off the season at home against Melbourne City on Sunday 18 October (kick off 5:30pm) at Lambert Park, Leichhardt. Follow @SydneyFC on Twitter for match updates.
Sydney FC W-League Memberships are now on sale for the Westfield W-League 2015/16 season. Click HERE to become part of the Sky Blues family
