By Sam Millne
The football community on the Wirral has rallied to help raise funds for repairs and replacements after a suspected arson left Victoria Colts Juniors FC with an estimated £6,000 of damage.
Victoria Colts chairman Eddie Carpenter was walking with his wife in Tranmere when he spotted a bright light coming from within Victoria Park where many of the club’s teams play on October 15.
It was fire engines putting out a blaze that engulfed club property.
The damage to the container affected, that has been in use since 1994, as well as the contents, was irreparable.
(Fire damage to the container)
Mr Carpenter said: “It’s not only what was in there.
“The fire brigade has said it (the container) is probably unusable now because of the damage the fire actually brought on.
“You need to have a mask due to the pollution because it’s quite toxic inside.”
Despite the initial dismay, a good thing has come from the embers of the fire.
The day after the incident, the club started a Go Fund Me page with a target of £6,000.
That has reached more than £10,000, far exceeding the expected response.
In the hours after the blaze, and after a Twitter post of the aftermath was posted, the response across social media from the wider footballing community, as well as in the Merseyside area, was – as Carpenter put it – ‘absolutely amazing.’
Devastated to wake up to the news that our storage container has been set on fire last night in the park 👎 the kids literally have nothing now 😩 pic.twitter.com/LR4mzSBRWD
— Victoria Colts vipers u10 (@u9_colts) October 16, 2021
The range of those offering support, from famous faces like Spanish football journalist Guillem Balagué, to companies such as JD Sports and Macron, was so uplifting for Victoria Colts.
Mr Carpenter said: “I truly did not expect to get what came out of it; the reaction and the amount of people who were willing to donate stuff in terms of equipment to get it up and running again for probably next weekend.
“We won’t be able to obviously replace everything that was destroyed in in the cabin, but the amount of people who were willing to respond in the short term is unbelievable.
“I still can’t put words into place to how amazed we are.”
The chairman now hopes that the money raised can become a catalyst for further improvement of their setup.
He added: “Take the clock forward…
“Everybody who is involved with our club truly hopes that something really, real has come out of it.
“I suppose it’s a good thing to see like the community coming together almost to Merseyside football community.”
If you would like to donate to Victoria Colts Junior Football Club, the link to their Go Fund Me page is: https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-victoria-colts-get-new-football-equipment
