Raith Rovers fans rally round club with ‘fantastic response’ to coronavirus appeal

With the suspension of all football fixtures depriving the club of income for the foreseeable future, a crowdfunding project was launched on Tuesday to help plug the shortfall.

The Just Giving page was set up on behalf of the board by supporters director Andy Mill in the hope of hitting an initial £25,000 target.

The early response has been overwhelming, with over £18,500 raised within the first 36 hours, putting the club 75 per cent of the way towards this total.

Mr Mill, who was voted onto the Stark’s Park board in June 2018, said: “It’s been a fantastic response.

“Even in the first couple of hours we raced up to £5000, which is an incredible achievement.

“This is a situation that is affecting everybody so I’m very humbled by the response people have made.”

Mr Mill stressed that the fundraising idea came from the supporters themselves.
“It was based on the responses I got from various individual fans who expressed an interest in donating to the club,” he said.

“Now that our season is effectively over, with no income coming in, they felt they wanted to make a positive contribution.

“They were suggesting things like donating the price of tickets for games they would’ve probably gone to. It’s really come from the fans themselves, and once the page was set up, it’s grabbed everyone’s imagination and taken off.”

Mr Mill has been taken aback by the initial response which has included some sizeable individual donations as well as some from supporters of other clubs.

“It’s testament to the generosity of Rovers fans and Scottish football as a whole,” he said. “It’s a situation where we’re basically all in this together.

“It’s affecting everybody and the fans who support us week in, week out through good times and bad, understand that this situation is unprecedented and could be the death knell of the club.

“Bills have still got to be paid and there’s no money coming in, so the fans have taken it upon themselves to demonstrate how much they care about the club.”

It is believed the coronavirus outbreak could cost the club as much as £100,000 in lost revenue from the four unfulfilled home matches as well as the now postponed Challenge Cup final against Inverness Caledonian Thistle.

Mr Mill added: “It won’t plug the gap completely but it will certainly go a long way towards helping pay the wages, staff costs, and other bills that are still coming in.”

To donate to the Raith Rovers crowdfunder click here