Local support and cardboard fans help out down pyramid
DESPITE a number of National League clubs wrestling with full-time salaries and other significant overheads, others further down the pyramid are finding that a little innovation can go a long way to mitigating the long-term implications of the shutdown.
For new-look North Ferriby FC, liquidated in March last year and re-formed as a phoenix club the following month, the pandemic brought an abrupt halt to their first full season in the Northern Counties East League.
Chairman Les Hare is hopeful the current situation can help galvanise local support. “In keeping with the vast majority of non-league clubs, we have had to look after ourselves, and cut our outgoings down to the bare bones.
“The non-league world is quite robust and innovative and it knows how to be creative. We have
been able to raise £250 per week through a turnstile top-up scheme. It might not sound like a fantastic amount but it has allowed us to pay an awful lot of bills.
“You hear some incredible stories coming out about people’s goodwill. Here at North Ferriby we were looking at the possibility of not having a club at all, and it helped people realise last year that you don’t always appreciate the value of something until you are going to lose it.”
Whitby Town were one of the first non-league clubs to successfully sell life-size cardboard cut-outs of supporters to place in the main stand.
The club has raised just over £8,000 via a JustGiving page set up at the start of the shutdown, and chairman Eddie McNamee says: “We’ve had donations from people in Norway who had been over to Whitby on holiday, and within minutes of making a radio appeal two weeks ago we had an anonymous donation of £1,000.
“To run Whitby we’re probably looking at £250,000 per year. We have had massive support from the town. Everyone is mucking in and we really feel we are connecting back with the town.”