Louise, Paul, John, Donna and Blanche at the fundraiser
Football Club ‘blown away’ after raising €80k for facilities
A Tallaght football club have raised a whopping €80,000 in funds to further improve facilities at their new astro pitch.
Tallaght Town AFC held a Lip Sync Fundraiser on Saturday night, October 10, at the Green Isle Hotel, where 12 groups battled it out to become Tallaght Town A.F.C.’s Lip Sync Champion.
The night was the culmination of many months of fundraising, some of which will go towards the costs of the club’s brand new 5G astroturf pitch and improving facilities such as the car park.
“We did get capital grant funding and we took out a loan [for the pitch], and we now need to do our car park because it’s really not in a good way,” explained Laura Ratcliffe, one of the organisers of the club’s fundraising committee.
She and her fellow committee members, Rachel Byas and Chris Doyle, have been “blown away” by not only the level of support they received, but commitment and talent of their lip sync contestants.
“Everyone was so willing to take part, it was brilliant,” she said.
Gary, Abi, Emma, Mel B and Posh
“We put it out on Facebook and our manager’s WhatsApp if anyone wanted to take part, please come and see us, and we approached people individually that we thought might be good.”
Each group taking part in the lip sync tournament was assigned two teams from the club to fundraise for them.
With acts across all genres, from Hocus Pocus’ Sanderson Sisters and the Village People to Dolly Parton and the Spice Girls, it was a fantastic night of entertainment, with the One Direction group taking home the title of Tallaght Town A.F.C.’s Lip Sync Champion.
“We were completely blown away by what they managed to do, just even the sense of community, it was just incredible,” Laura said.
Even after raising such an incredible sum for the club, Laura’s attention is firmly focused on the next one.
“Obviously, it’ll be about two, three years again before we can try and pull that kind of money again, but already in my head I’m thinking what can we do next,” she said with a laugh.
