Staffordshire Surge American Football Club

Aim

With these investments, we believe we will be able to make the sport more accessible to our community.

Who are we?

We are the Staffordshire Surge American Football team; one of only two American Football teams that exists in Staffordshire, England. We ply our trade in the 2nd Division of the British American Football structure and have a history of being fairly successful, winning our division consistently since 2015, with a 61% win rate, but haven’t quite managed to get promoted. 

Why are we crowdfunding?

Our club is more than just a sports team - we are committed to making a real difference in the lives of those who need it most. We deliver activity in one of the most working class areas of England, where expendable income is often hard to come by. Yet the incredible community in and surrounding Stoke-on-Trent still give what little they have to support others in need. Well, we want to do our part to give back and continue being able to provide protective equipment, jerseys and teamwear to our players for free, and keep the subscription model to play for the Surge at as affordable a price as possible. 

We are a truly diverse team, with players of all genders, ethnic origin, belief, size/stature and age (though the bulk of our membership are males between the ages of 18 and 30; the demographic that is most at risk of ill mental health and suicide). By supporting us, you can help us to provide these individuals with access to positive activities that can improve their physical and mental health, build their confidence, and teach them important life skills. 

So if you want to make a meaningful impact in your community, we urge you to consider donating to our American Football club in Stoke-on-Trent. Your support could be the olive branch that someone needs when they need it the most.

How we’ll spend the money raised

With these investments, we believe we will be able to make the sport more accessible to our community, passing cost savings onto the players where possible, whilst also putting us on a better footing to be competitive in the league and push for that all-important promotion to Division 1. Any spare funds will be assessed for helping to build our brand and awareness in the local community.

Here's a list of things we would love to be able to buy for the team;

- New protective equipment so that we can continue to hand out safe equipment to players for free,

- New training and coaching equipment to help players achieve their potential,

- New game & practice footballs,

- Coach travel to away games,

- New gameday jerseys and pants to replace ones that are torn or missing and cater for the new players joining,

- Teamwear to help players feel more connected to the club,

- A new camera and necessary accessories so that we can record games for promotional, development, and streaming purposes - further helping us to expand awareness of our club and sport to a broader community,

- Host an end-of-season, family friendly event that brings together local businesses, artists, musicians and other unique sports/clubs in the area to bond and network over locally sourced food and drink,

- Host more frequent social activities to help out players better connect with one another.

- Pay for the cost of coaching qualifications for any budding coaches. The aim being to remove the barrier to entry for those passionate about the sport but no-longer able to play, which in-turn will help our players to develop.

Community impact

Our ambition is to to entice more and more people in the local area to get involved within the sport, not only as a player but as a volunteer on gamedays, training or even as a coach. Due to the sparse nature of American Football in the UK, our definition of 'local' is focussed on the immediate, 20 mile radius of Stoke-on-Trent, but also stretches to 1 hour's journey time (approximately 35 miles).

We support anyone that wants to be involved within the team, in whichever way works best for them. We also promote the mental health impacts as we feel getting involved in a team sport and social environment can help people cope a lot better by working out their frustrations through exercise and even by just being around a supportive group of people. 

How you can play your part

There are three simple ways to help us reach our target, and make this project a reality.

1. Make a pledge. Don’t delay if you’re going to support us because momentum is key to our success! And to sweeten the deal, If you make a pledge today and choose to join the team before the culmination of our 2023 season, we will deduct your donation off of your subs.

2. Spread the word. Share our project on your social media pages and tell the world to get behind us! The more people we reach, the more support we will get.

3. Offer rewards. Get involved if you are a local business by donating things we can raffle or offer to our supporters. We will give you a shout out and depending on the amount we could advertise your business to thousands on social media, our website and during gamedays, for more information please get in touch!

This project successfully funded on 18th May 2023