Support the National Lottery Football Weekends

National Lottery Football Weekends are being held in both March and April. They celebrate the role that grass-root football clubs play in their communities. Former England women’s captain Karen Carney MBE has been involved in the campaign.

Carney travelled to Barry Town United FC to meet Chloe McBratney who is a football coach. That’s a great achievement for Cloe who is registered blind and also has other health issues. That doesn’t stop her coaching the club’s Pan Disability team.

The National Lottery Football Weekends campaign is similar to the one being held for local theatres. It’s a ‘Buy One Get One Free’ ticket offer. Over 100,000 tickets are on offer across three weekends in March and April.

This offer is available for matches in three JD Cymru leagues in Wales, namely the Premier, North and South divisions. Those supporting Barry need to put the date April 2 down in their diaries. The National Lottery Football Weekends offer will be available for their home game against Cefn Druids.

Pandemic problems

The pandemic caused major problems for all football clubs but especially the smaller ones. With matches being postponed, that caused cash flow difficulties. The National Lottery stepped in and gave grants worth £12.5 million to help community clubs around the UK.

Karen Carney explained the importance of smaller football clubs and the help received from the National Lottery. The player who made 144 appearances for England said that clubs such as Barry are “absolutely crucial to our communities.” Many now have pan-disability and walking teams.”

A big thank you

The National Lottery Football Weekends campaign is a way of “saying a big thank you” to players of the National Lottery. The tickets they regularly buy helped raise the funds that were distributed to the clubs.

Chloe McBratney added that the funding received was “so important” during the pandemic. With the clubs now playing again, this gives people the chance to watch football again. It was a delight for her to meet Karen Carney who she described as her role model when growing up.

Buy some tickets from Lottery24 today.