Richmond’s Fighting Tiger Fund has received a major boost from Tiger website fan forum, “PuntRoadEnd”.
The “PuntRoadEnders” have chipped in to raise $5000-plus to donate to the Fighting Tiger Fund.
As a result, the puntroadend.com website address will appear on the special Richmond guernsey for the Round 15 clash with Carlton at the MCG. Donors who contribute $5000 or more will have their names printed on the Club’s iconic yellow sash in a unique acknowledgement.
Even PuntRoadEnd’s website administrator, Rosy, was surprised by the devotion to the Yellow and Black cause of the site’s members, after the idea was put forward by “Casper68”.
“I thought it was a wonderful idea, but we’d possibly struggle to raise the funds due to two facts. People on the forum had already mentioned they’d paid several thousand dollars in individual donations, and we’d only recently finished raising the funds to sponsor four players for the year (Daniel Jackson, Jake King, David Astbury and Tom Derickx),” Rosy said.
“I decided to do a post to at least gauge how much interest there was anyway, and I was astounded when over $5000 was pledged within 24 hours. That amount has now been collected and we still have over $1000 in outstanding pledges to come in and others still donating as well.
“There are currently 95 site members who’ve pledged and contributed, and more are still joining in . . .
“It’s heart-warming to know when Richmond is debt free, and a force to be reckoned with in the future, the members of puntroadend.com will collectively have helped to make it happen.”
Richmond is extremely grateful for the donation made by PuntRoadEnd, and all the other Yellow and Black barrackers, who have so far contributed to the Fighting Tiger Fund.
The Club is set to break through the $100,000 mark in the next few days, with the direct mail campaign having just gone out. As of next Monday (February 28), the Club will post a regular donation figure update on richmondfc.com.au.
“Many thanks to the PuntRoadEnd users, who have banded together, and everyone else that has made a contribution thus far. It is greatly appreciated and critically important to making us great again,” said Richmond’s CEO Brendon Gale.
“Our members and supporters provide this Club with a wonderful foundation, and they are doing just that for us once again following the launch of the Fighting Tiger Fund.
“The Club’s major fundraising push will happen on Thursday, March 17. What we want to do that night is put on the table a significant number that represents the commitment our members and supporters have made.
“We are well on the way to doing that. To be pushing the $100,000 mark in just over a week is fantastic. We still have over three weeks until the function, so we sincerely hope that figure will continue to grow.”
PuntRoadEnd has sponsored 4-6 Richmond players per season for several years, and back in 2006, the fan forum raised more than $17,000 to help the Club add an extra player to its rookie list (other websites, coterie groups and supporters also contributed). That player was Angus Graham, who is now Richmond’s No. 1 ruckman.
