‘It didn’t feel right to ask for donations’ – Horndean launch fundraising ticket reward scheme

The Wessex League Premier Division club are currently around a quarter of the way to raising a targeted £6,000 sum as they prepare to undertake repair work at their Five Heads Park home.

The Deans intend to revamp the changing room area, invest in new floodlights, install new turnstiles and continue with work to make the ground more Covid secure, among other improvements.

In order to do so, they have called on the community and football family to offer some support.

But conscious of asking for financial help during a pandemic, Horndean wanted to provide something in return to those dipping into their pockets.

That's when commercial manager Michelle Pitt came up with the idea for a ticket campaign 2021/22 reward scheme.

In short, it provides those who pledge a donation the chance to claim a reward through Horndean at some stage next season, or pass it up to others within the community.

These include match-day tickets when football is allowed to return, season tickets or children being granted free admission to a game.

And it's giving back to those who are able to offer their support in the toughest of periods that Pitt saw as pivotal.

She said: 'We appreciate that times are hard for lots of people and we’re grateful for every penny that’s raised.

‘Hopefully, by the way we’ve approached it, we’ve had some really nice feedback about how we’ve gone about it, hopefully people will appreciate the way we’ve approached it to try to give something back when the season starts.

‘It didn’t feel right to just ask for donations, we felt more supportive to others by giving something back.

‘Thanks to all those people that supported us last year and all those that continue to support us.

'Please just check the campaign out. There might be a dad that coaches a football team and they could get a team along.

‘If you pledge £45 then you can bring a team of kids along to watch some football.'

Horndean have currently raised just under £1,500 and Pitt says every penny will help towards the planned ground improvements.

But the club are hoping they'll attract more people through the turnstiles as well.

‘We would love to reach our target, we’re around a quarter of the way there which is great and we’re really appreciative of it,' added Pitt.

‘But anything we raise will help the club, it’ll be fantastic to reach the target, but it’s also a difficult target.

‘Whatever we do reach will support the club and we’ll also have plenty of tickets to give to kids in the local community.

‘As a club, we’re just grateful for any support we get.

‘Any funds that we can raise at the moment is supporting Horndean Football Club.

‘It felt nicer to be able to say, ‘well, you’re helping us now and in return we’ll welcome you to Five Heads Park in August, September or whenever the season starts again'.

For further details, visit Crowdfunder.co.uk or search ‘Horndean FC ticket campaign’.