Bridgwater & Albion RFC Covid 19 Crowdfunder

Bridgwater & Albion Rugby Football Club has a proud pedigree and tradition extending back nearly 150 years; 145 years to be exact. As everyone is aware, the current COVID-19 pandemic has had a massive impact on the world and this of course also extends to sport. With the possible exception of the World Wars the current Pandemic is a big a challenge as we have faced in our 145 years of history. Nationwide and at every playing level, sport has been cancelled and as a result sporting clubs now find themselves in financial difficulty. Bridgwater & Albion like many others cannot survive in-definitely without any sport being played, supporters at the bar and the various other social and commercial activities that take place at our club. We are currently taking every step necessary to protect the club for the future. However, even by reducing as many outgoings as possible, certain bills and expenses will always need paying.

Covid 19 has brought dire consequences to families, businesses and organisations and we remain respectful of that. We are aware of how difficult circumstances are for many families and companies. Our obligation to our club at this time is to do the best we can for it considering that Coronavirus has put an abrupt stop on our income streams when the Government Lockdown was implemented. With much needed cashflow in mind we are respectfully asking our friends to help us through this short-term funding challenge. We are launching a Crowd-Funding initiative

We are asking for financial support from past and present club players, supporters, rugby and football enthusiasts. Our commitment to you is that any money raised will be used for the specific purpose of sport and will not be used for any other purpose. Our playing surfaces are in need of the annual maintenance of fertilizing and seeding, in addition the irrigation system that is used to pump water to the pitches needs replacing. Combined these will cost circa £10,000. The irrigation system replacement is a one-off cost that will help the club for many years to come (the last system was installed on moving to the facility 25years ago). Of course, purchasing grass seed, fertilizer and water to keep it all alive is a recurring cost.

Hundreds of past players have benefitted from camaraderie and playing experiences over the years, and today we continue to support and provide facilities for our successful youth rugby teams from under six to under sixteen, our two senior men’s football teams, our Ladies rugby team and of course men’s rugby teams plus our social members and community users. We have not rushed into asking for donations, we are aware many other clubs have set up funding schemes already. We wanted to be sure it was absolutely needed before asking for support. With the income streams already lost and the fact that we are not likely to obtain any significant income in the coming months, this has led us to the decision to ask for support at this time.

We pride ourselves on being a club of the community and never has this been more relevant. Any support you can give would be enormously appreciated, please donate to our Go Fund Me page as every pound raised will help. Please share this request as widely as you can.

Thank you for reading and a very big thank you for any support you can provide.


Steve Smith  - Club Chairman and Head of Commercial

Geoff Sluman - Vice-Chair and Head of Sport