Keep The Crows Flying!

Royston Town FC has been around a long time – 145 years to be exact! – we’ve survived two World Wars, played in local, regional and national leagues and beaten a number of higher-ranking opponents in the FA Cup, FA Trophy and FA Vase but the current Coronavirus pandemic is a new challenge altogether.

Recently things couldn’t have been going better both on and off the pitch for the club. Over the last 12 years, we have risen through the tiers of semi-pro football and our crowds and supporter base have also grown, culminating in a record attendance of 1,152 for our FA Cup game against Maldon & Tiptree this season and taking 6 coachloads of fans away to Concord Rangers in the FA Trophy.

But Royston Town FC is not all about the headline-grabbing First Team – we also have a Reserve side and an Under 18 team. We have also invested heavily in developing Women’s football and we now have two senior sides, a female development centre and a growing number of Youth sides.  

Running in parallel with these achievements is the creation and growth of the club’s Community Development Programme which provides inclusive sporting opportunities for local children. Via this program, we actively engage with well over 700 local children a week from the age of 18 months and up! Our Community programme delivers valuable education projects within local schools as well as running 8 extra-curricular activity clubs each week.  

Although Royston Town is a very well financially run club, due to the current pandemic we have suddenly found ourselves losing pretty much all our revenue streams almost overnight. When the 2019/20 football season was cancelled, we still had 5 home league games remaining plus the possibility of lucrative playoff games. With our bar and clubhouse closed, we have had to cancel our whole programme of functions including our long-standing and very popular beer and music festival – the biggest single fundraising event the club holds. As a  result, and in spite of the prize money from our cup successes, we have a net shortfall in revenue in excess of £50K and we now need to find ways to fill that gap and guarantee the future growth and well being of Royston Town FC.

Despite a record-breaking season that has seen us secure some very valuable prize money the current crisis has still resulted in us having a shortfall in and we now need to find some way of filling this gap to guarantee the Crows can fly as high as before!

The club is exploring all avenues to raise money and we wanted to give our supporters and others the opportunity to be involved and are asking for donations to enable the club to continue their activities next season. We understand that this is a difficult time for everyone, and we normally would not ask for donations but anything that can be spared would be welcomed. 

That is why we've taken to Crowdfunder to ask for your help. We don't want the growth of the club to turn into a quick decline. We want to ensure that we come out of the other side of this global crisis as strong as possible and for us to be able to continue to compete at the top end of non-league football and restart our highly valued Community Development Programme. With, in all likelihood, no competitive football to be played for the foreseeable future, this page allows Crows supporters to assist in making a donation to the club to help fill the gap in finances as a result of the shutdown caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

We are aware of the effects of COVID-19 across the globe and we are hoping our fans, followers, local residents and local or national businesses can help us in any way they can to raise £20,000 to help the club to fill the gap in our finances caused by the current crisis.

Any amount pledged to the club will be used to put us in a stronger position over the coming weeks and months. We are very proud of our Crows community and we will mark your generosity by including your name on our new 'Wall of Support'.

We are aware, of course, that the current situation stretches beyond football, and into our wider community. Whilst most of us are at home, keeping ourselves and our families safe, there are many key workers continuing to work tirelessly to keep us safe and well through stocking shelves, delivering items and managing our health. In our own small way, we would like to give something back to those carrying out this vital work who live and work locally. 

For every £1000 raised during this crowdfunding campaign, we will donate an adult SEASON ticket for the 2020/21 season to a local key worker in recognition of their unwavering efforts during this difficult time.