A FOOTBALL club has paid tribute to a community which rallied to raise funds after all of its equipment was destroyed by fire in an arson attack.
Kexborough Chiefs Junior Football Club was the victim of vandalism after its lockup which housed all of the team’s equipment was set alight on Saturday night.
Equipment such as kids’ football kits, PVC goalposts and metal nets, pop-up target nets, balls and cones are just some of the items that were burnt and the club has estimated it will cost around £2,500 to replace them.
But within days, donations began to flood in after appeals online to get the club back on its feet.
The team noticed the damage on Sunday morning when they were setting up for a charity football match arranged between the coaches and the U17 team to raise money for the club and Barnsley Hospice.
Dan Connelly, acting chairman, said: “It was when opening the container to set up for the game we noticed it had been burnt down.
“On inspection, there appears to have been a fire set directly behind the container and the flames/heat managed to get through gaps in the container and everything inside was melted.
“Anyone who has been involved with a grassroots club will know that money is always tight due to investment continually being needed to allow children of the area a chance to play a sport they love.
“At Kexborough Chiefs we pride ourselves on providing sport for all at a very low break-even cost so the funds to replace this equipment are not readily available.
“The loss of equipment is not what has damaged our fantastic club the most, it’s knowing that this has directly affected the children of our club who are without equipment to enable them to get out of the house and socialise with others who have a love for the sport.”
The club started a crowd funding page on New Year’s Eve to recover the money it will cost to replace the team’s equipment as well as industrial cleaning and repairing the current lock up which will be moved to a safer location.
The team has received £2,600 so far, including a £500 donation from Barnsley Football Club.
The Oakwell club’s finance and operations director Rob Zuk, who became aware of the story and made the donation, said: “When it came to our attention that vandals had destroyed all of the Kexborough Chiefs’ equipment, we felt that we had to help in any way that we could.
“It was great to see that the rest of the community rallied so quickly and generously to help the Chiefs reach their fundraising target in such a short space of time.
“We know how much enjoyment the kids get from playing football, so if we have helped them to get back on their feet and playing football again then we’re delighted to be able to do that.”
Dan said the support he has received since the incident has been ‘incredible’.
He said: “After sharing with the community of Barnsley, we have received incredible support which we are literally balled over with. With local teams such as Pogmoor offering to donate nets and the wonderful people of Barnsley who have donated.
“We are extremely grateful to every single person that has contacted us regarding this, from offers of help to huge donations. It truly is humbling to witness the passion there is in grassroots football and we can’t express enough how thankful everyone in our club is.
“As well as thanking everyone from outside the club, we would also like to thank our coaches and staff who have been working very hard these last few days to get as much support as they could.
“They already do loads for us as a club and to see them rally around, work hard and give up even more of their free time over the festive period is truly remarkable.”
Find the GoFundMe page here.
