Funding plea for British title bid

Amanda McDonald, the East Kilbride Pirates chair, is asking the town to help send their youth teams to the Britbowl National Finals next month.

Both the club’s under-17 and under-19 sides have qualified for the showpiece events, which will take place in Sheffield and Stockport respectively.

The cost to take both teams south will be in excess of £3000, the kind of funds the club simply do not have.

But the Pirates have set up a text donation system to allow the public to help with their fundraising efforts.

To help the team text the message EKPU19 £5 to 70070 to donate a fiver or EKPU19 £10 to 70070 to donate a tenner.

Text donations will be deducted from mobile phone credit or added to the mobile phone bill.

Amanda said: “For our players aged 14-17 to take part this means a trip to Sheffield, including an overnight stay.

“And for our junior team for players aged 16-19 this means travelling to Stockport to play Manchester Titans in a play-off for the chance to win a spot at the junior national final.

“If they’re successful, which we hope they are, this would then mean further travel and overnight accommodation in Worcester at the end of August.

“It would be great if we could offset these expenses.“

Anyone who wants to donate more than £10 or is interested in sponsoring the team can contact Natasha MacKinnon at natasha@ piratesfootball.co.uk.