Beloved local football club calling on community to help replace rundown shipping container with new sustainable clubhouse
By Eli Haidari
9th Feb 2023 | Local News
Hampton Rangers Juniors is calling on the local community to help secure funding that would allow the club to replace its rundown shipping container with a new sustainable clubhouse.
The football outfit is a bedrock in the local community, which has provided a safe space for children to develop their love of the sport for over fifty years.
The club provides coaching and organised games to over 170 children across 14 teams from the ages of 6-16 and lives by a 'football for all' ethos.
Despite Hampton Rangers Juniors' longevity, the club has operated across the years with minimal funding and has relied heavily on support from local institutions and established clubs.
The club now boasts an all weather pitch but has endured the use of an old shipping container as makeshift club house, changing room and meeting room for 15 years which has now run its cause.
With the floors now rising, the ceiling starting to give way and damp spreading across the shipping container, the club has now turned to the community through its crowdfunder in the hopes of raising £25,000 which will be matched by Sport England.
Currently, donations stand at a remarkable £21,401.
Funding would allow Hampton Rangers FC to ensure the new clubhouse would be complete with a kitchen and a community room where players, parents, carers and the community could meet.
The kitchen and bar along with seating areas would allow parents to enjoy a coffee whilst their child plays and players will be able to enjoy a drink after their match or training. The new clubhouse would also be used for end of year presentations and community fundraisers.
The existing 'clubhouse' would then be repurposed as dedicated changing facilities.
In a video uploaded to the crowdfunder, Billy Martin, Chair of the Hampton Rangers Junior Football Club, said: "When Rory and I first got involved with the club it was on its last legs. There were only two teams left, the training ground was also a matchday pitch, floodlights had fallen over, brambos growing all over the pitch and we suffered badly from vandalism.
"Slowly, we've been able to turn the club into something we're immensely proud of and the final piece of the jigsaw really is the clubhouse. Although it has served its purpose, it's as basic as it gets and very much in need of being replaced.
"If you're able to support our case with our crowdfunder then we all here at Hampton Rangers Juniors would really appreciate it so much, thank you."
To support the fundraiser, the club will also be hosting a football memorabilia auction on Friday 17 February at the Hampton Social Club.
A number of eye-catching items will be up for grabs including boots worn by Peter Crouch during a Champions league Final, boxing gloves signed by former heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua, and a host of football shirts signed by icons of the sport including Pele.
For information on the Hampton Rangers Junior's fundraiser, visit the crowdfunder here.
Further details on the club's upcoming memorabilia auction can be found by contacting: [email protected]
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