Play-off schedule finally revealed
Romans begin play-off quest with Sunday afternoon fixture
Bath City manager Jerry Gill has thanked the Roman Army for their support as the club’s crowdfunder reached the £45,000 mark.
Having smashed their original £35,000 target in just over 48 hours, Bath set a stretch target of £50,000 to be reach by July 25 and that is set to be met this week, with 785 supporters helping to raise £49,767 as of Wednesday lunchtime.
As well as helping to fund the club’s play-off push, Bath will now be able to welcome 1,750 NHS workers to designated matches next season for free as a thank you for their efforts during the lockdown.
All the funds surpassing the £35,000 help to cover any losses anticipated next season if some restrictions remain, as well as 750 free tickets to carers, health visitors and care home workers next season.
To show his gratitude, Gill said: “I am absolutely overwhelmed with the volume of donations, which has not only come from our wonderful Bath City Supporters, but from sports fans from far afield too. Special thanks to supporters from my former clubs Birmingham City, Cheltenham Town, Northampton Town and Yeovil Town who have all kindly donated as well as local friends at Bristol Rovers, Bristol City and Swindon and, most of all, The Roman Army.
“It’s not only important we cover the costs of competing in the playoffs but, by reaching the newly set target of £50k, we can allow ourselves to build firm foundations for our playing squad next season. Once again from myself, my staff and players a huge thank you.”
Bath City’s play-off schedule has also been revealed. Their play-off eliminator against Dorking Wanderers at Twerton Park will kick-off at 3pm on Sunday, July 19. If they win that, they will travel to face Weymouth on July 25, kick-off 3pm. The promotion final will take place on August 1 at the stadium of the highest ranked finalist, which could be at Twerton Park, should Slough Town or Dartford make it to the final.
Despite confirming that BT Sport will televise all of the National League play-offs, there’s been no confirmation yet as to whether they will also broadcast the National League North and South play-offs and the club is looking into their own streaming plans should there be no television broadcasts.
In the wake of global and further Black Lives Matter protests, Bath City has also issued a statement to reaffirm their commitment to a zero tolerance policy for racism.
The statement read: “Bath City Football Club stands firmly against racism, discrimination and hatred of any kind. As a community owned football club, we have frequently spoken out and demonstrated our abhorrence for racism by championing the ‘Show Racism the Red Card’ initiative on match days, sought to encourage greater diversity by providing free match day experiences for refugees and worked with Bath Against Racism, Fairfield House, Bath Welcomes Refugees, Bath & North East Somerset Council and others to raise awareness of issues, challenge thinking, make space for dialogue and facilitate action.
“We are proud of the rich diversity that exists within our local communities, amongst our fanbase, and through the staff and players who have represented our club over the years. The scenes we have witnessed in recent weeks have hurt us all – and we will continue to use our platform to make a stand against racism.
“Our club values being a welcoming friendly club to all parts of our community. The topic of racism, both in football and society in general has garnered widespread news coverage over the last year, for awful reasons, and today is another opportunity for us at Bath City FC to demonstrate our response by showing that we will not tolerate racism in any form and are happy to express solidarity with anti-racism initiatives.
“We re-confirm our commitment to a culture of inclusivity, diversity and acceptance in all aspects of club life.
“Being owned by hundreds of supporters, and followed by many thousands more, we are truly the people’s club. But we don’t take that for granted and we recognise that to be an integral part of city life, not only in Twerton, but of the whole of Bath, we need to embrace diversity in all its forms and so commit to do more in the coming weeks and months to make our club more representative of the city and region we live in.
“We know we can do more and welcome ideas to help shape our diversity and inclusivity plan. Please contact our Community Director [joy.saunders@bathcityfootballclub.co.uk] with any contributions by July 31 so that you can help shape our plans.”