Your club needs you!

Nov 1 2007 by Dave Bettley, Runcorn and Widnes Weekly News

An open letter from Jason Shaw of Vikings Quids In about the situation at Widnes Vikings and how you can support its future

FIRST of all, let me reassure Widnes RL fans that the Vikings Quids In (VIQI) fundraising scheme has not been affected by the fact that the club has gone into administration.

We are an independent group and funds are held separately from the club.

The money currently in hand is safe and those supporting VIQI by standing order are OK to leave their arrangements in place.

Over the last week or two, I keep hearing the same question over and over again – ‘What can I do to help my club?’.

Unfortunately, it’s a bit late now the horse has bolted, so to speak.

Fans are running around wanting to set up funds and raise money to help our club and that is highly commendable.

In my opinion, what we need is a concerted effort by all the fans to increase our supporter base.

If the Vikings could attract at least 4,000 season-ticket holders it would really help to make a case for a Super League franchise.

Let’s hope that when season tickets do go on sale that all those who have the club’s best interests at heart will buy one.

And what if you want to assist the club in other ways?

Well, the VIQI scheme was formed more than eight years ago and has so far raised more than £80,000 with £74,000 to date having been given directly to the coach to assist in team recruitment and retention of key players.

The scheme currently has more than £6,000 in the bank with a membership of around 300.

The hard facts of the matter are that membership numbers fluctuate depending on how the team/club is doing.

If we are struggling and losing, the numbers plummet – ironically those are the times when we most need to help out with new players.

If we are doing well the numbers increase significantly.

We had approximately 500 members when we were doing well in Super League but dropped to around 125 when we were relegated.

What I am trying to say is please stick with the scheme and help us to do more – £6,000 doesn’t sound a lot but, as an illustration, if each of last year’s season ticket-holders had been VIQI members since its inception we would have raised more than £1 million in eight years. What a difference that might have made!

Please consider signing up for VIQI and helping us do more once we get through this difficult time in our club’s history.

VIQI has already advised the club that it is keen to continue to play a part regarding the retention of both youth and senior players with £6,000 immediately earmarked for players for next season.

Please be aware that VIQI will absolutely not hand over any funds until the club has secured its future.

With this in mind, I would like to ask the fans out there to get behind the scheme in significant numbers. This costs a minimum of £1 per week payable by completing a simple standing order form.

I feel it would be a great way of showing our continued support of the club we love; you can do this by one of the following methods:

Going on line to www.widnesvikings.co.uk and clicking on the VIQI tab to download a form.

Filling in the coupon on this page or downloading the form at www.widnesweeklynews.co.uk or www.runcornweeklynews.co.uk

Forms, once completed, should be posted to: Vikings Quids In, Widnes Vikings Club Shop, Halton Stadium, Lowerhouse Lane, Widnes, WA8 7DZ. Forms can also be dropped off at the shop by hand.

A big thanks to all existing members who continue to demonstrate to me that we are truly Widnes Til WE Die

Jason Shaw

Vikings Quids In (VIQI)