Fundraising For Youth Development More Needed
Fund Raising Becomes More Important |
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Fund Raising For Youth Development Becomes More Important Swansea City Supporters Trust have been raising money for the Youth side of Swansea City for a couple of years and those fund raising schemes may have become more important following a government decision to axe millions of pounds of funding from youth development. The following is an extract from Wales On Sunday February 26 2006. A Government decision to axe millions of pounds of funding for youth development could have disastrous consequences for Welsh football. From the end of this season the Government will withdraw all its financial support for professional football's youth development programme. That will leave a £3.75million annual funding shortfall after the PFA last year also stopped paying into the scheme. The Football League has appealed for financial help to both the FA and the Premier League and negotiations are on-going. Currently there are 69 youth development programmes in operation, 22 clubs running Academies and 47 the downgraded version of Centres of Excellence. The current £10million funding package amounts to £138,000 per Club. FL operations director Andy Williamson is very worried for the future as without core funding more Clubs will scrap their programmes, which have provided a route for local talent to play for their home clubs. It would be a travesty if so much good work were to unravel for the want of what, in football terms, is a very small amount of money." With a loss of income to Swansea City, every penny that the Trust can assist in raising can go someway to alleviating this loss although it will take some work to reach the levels of income being talked about because of this government U-Turn The Trust currently has running it's 'Pledge A Wedge' scheme where fans can back the number of goals that the Swans score in the league this season against a cash amount with the chance of also winning themselves prizes which include season tickets for next season. You can pledge anywhere from 10p per goal upwards with a 25p per goal pledge expected to cost around £20 at the end of the season. For every £1 you pay into the scheme you get one entry into a prize draw to win one of the prizes listed below You can pledge online at www.swanstrust.com/pledge.htm Every penny really does now count. The prizes for the winning contributors are as follows 1st - Guest of honour at the opening match of the 2006/2007 season and a season ticket for the rest of the season 2nd - A season ticket for the 2006/2007 season 3rd - A Signed Shirt 4th - A Signed Ball What to read next:The opponents won't be known until Saturday afternoon, but Southampton FC have announced their ticket pricing structure and how the tickets will be sold to give supporters plenty of time to sort their tickets out. Recent months have seen a number of events and issues divide opinion and split the supporter base but as we head towards the play offs it is time for everyone at Saints to kick in the same direction. Against Stoke City Russell martin selected a side that was very much a second string line up, with the play offs looming should the manager repeat this for the trip to take on Leeds on Saturday. A big big game for just Leeds now, although by Saturday the odds on them going up automatically might have changed slightly so here is all the info for those travelling Saints fans who are still going, The hope of getting back into the Premier League automatically has long gone, but the season is not yet over and we now have a good chance of getting to Wembley and going up through the play offs, here we look at who we could meet. This should have been a celebratory day for Saints fans, there should have been a feeling of positivity, but the truth is that the fight has been knocked out of the supporter base and we go into the play offs with confidence both on and off the pitch at a low ebb. Southampton 0 - 1 Stoke City - Player Ratings and Reports
If you saw the match, please give us your player ratings and a mini match report. In the second part of our pictorial look back at some of our games against Stoke City from the past, here we look back at more recent games, so most of you would have been at them. We have looked through our photo archives for a look back as some games against Stoke City over the years, what are your memories of these games ? Saints go into the last two games of the season with their hopes of automatic promotion ended, even the hope of finishing 3rd is only a point away from being ended, but they do have something to play for and that is getting back the togetherness, character & fight Russell Martin has recently be moaned. |