- A Western Australian club is hosting a raffle like no other
- It could result in a very complicated situation depending on who wins.
- Club needs help with $2 million remodeling bill
A Western Australian soccer club is taking a risky approach to raising funds by putting out a bid to name its stadium – and they don’t care how odd the choice of winner is.
The Railways Football Club in Albany, in the state’s southern tip, is building a new clubhouse as part of a $2 million refurbishment, and they need to raise $500,000 to finish the job.
They are now giving anyone in Australia the chance to choose the name of their football ground for 12 months, and they don’t care what the result is.
“Normally, you would offer something like this to a company,” club president Wayne Stubber told ABC.
“But what we’re doing here is just allowing anyone the opportunity to put their nickname, or their name, or their dog, or whatever.
‘It could be their favourite beer or something… Imagine someone sitting in a pub in Victoria and telling their friend that they actually have a football ground in Western Australia named after them.
We’re pretty nervous, but also pretty excited.
The Railways Football Club in Albany, Western Australia, is giving one lucky Australian the chance to name its stadium (pictured).
The club is renovating its ground, but work has stopped as the club is desperately seeking $500,000 to finish the job (pictured)
“If it gets some traction and becomes really popular, it’s something we could do annually.”
Asked what the club would do if a rival Great Southern Football League team won the toss and named the ground after their team, Stubber said: “That’s what we have to live with.”
“If the Royals across the street won the toss and wanted to call it Royals Stadium or something, we’d just have to accept that.”
“In fact we have said that we are selling our soul.”
Want to name the club after your cat? Or your favorite beer brand? This is your big chance and tickets are only $25 each.
Club chairman Wayne Stubber says the club will honour its promise to adopt the name of the winner’s choice, even if the winner is a rival football team (pictured, the Railways team celebrating a victory).
The Railways draw brings back memories of a British competition to name a polar research vessel (pictured) which ended up being called ‘Boaty McBoatface’ in 2016
The redevelopment will see the clubhouse completely refurbished with new changing rooms, but Railways ran out of money before the work could be completed and are now stuck in what they describe as a “rusty and mouldy” building which is part of the construction site.
“Simply put, we are in a shit hole without a paddle,” the club said in a statement. Clever video created to announce the giveaway..
The winner of the draw, in which you can participate here For $25 a ticket, you’ll also get round-trip flights for two to watch a game of your choice at the newly named stadium.
Railways’ brave decision to hand over naming rights to ordinary Australians is reminiscent of what happened when Britain’s National Environmental Research Council gave the public the chance to decide a name for its polar research ship in 2016.
‘Boaty McBoatface’ received almost 125,000 votes, more than four times the second-place choice.