The fight to rescue Canberra United from folding continued on Friday with the launch of a fan-led fundraising initiative, but it might not be as clear-cut a silver bullet as some may have hoped.
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Capital Football chief executive Samantha Farrow is set to meet with former Matilda and United supporter Sue Read on Monday morning. Read is leading a 15-strong fan working group that began a $300,000 fundraising initiative on Friday morning to help keep the foundation A-League Women club alive.
Farrow was enthusiastic to work alongside fans and explore different methods of fundraising to support United to remain in the domestic competition next season, revealing that $500,000 was needed to achieve that goal.
However, she was concerned at some aspects of the working group's hasty approach in the last week. She said their first email was received by Capital Football over the Easter weekend. Chair Angelo Konstantinou followed up with a phone call to Read on Tuesday seeking further details on their proposals, and just one more email was received "late on Thursday".
Farrow said despite that limited correspondence the fundraising initiative was launched without Capital Football's formal approval, a face-to-face meeting and without any notice before it went live online.
The "Save Canberra United" fundraiser on the Chuffed website also promised a "perk" for those who donated $1000 or more to have their name on the team's McKellar Park tunnel signage next season - which Farrow said was a "great idea", but was not discussed with Capital Football.
Furthermore, there are numerous details Read admitted the fan working group are still yet to formalise, such as how the money will be securely and directly used for United, and what assurances those people donating have on where, how and who will manage the money, should it reach its $300,000 goal or not.
"We were probably getting a bit impatient in trying to hear from Capital Football and progress things but time is really critical as people are ready to donate," Read said, clarifying that further details on their fundraising initiative would hopefully be worked out at Monday's meeting.
"Chuffed had very low cost, it could be put forward quickly and be very transparent.
"At this stage our intention is to set up an independent association or not-for-profit where we can take the money in, but make sure it is used directly to Canberra United.
"We never had confirmation they were definitely going to go ahead with crowd-funding, and we've got links with Matildas alumni, current and ex-players and we've got time and energy to get everyone to share which Capital Football might not have the capacity to do."
As of Friday evening, $8500 had been raised by the working group's fundraising initiative.
Farrow was currently working on securing $200,000 immediate investment to lower next season's deficit, working with ACT and federal government for support.
"This immediate investment decreases the overall financial risk to Capital Football, and we believe the remaining deficit can be made up through several supplementary initiatives," she said.
Farrow said Capital Football has also been exploring "new merchandise, alternate membership options, sponsorship packages and direct investment", and actually already planned with the Australian Sports Foundation to set up a crowd-funding platform that would be tax deductible - unlike Chuffed.
"However, legalities surrounding the return of funds if unsuccessful in raising the required investment has held this up," the chief executive said.
"I still want to work together [with the fans] and see what we can achieve, but at the moment we could potentially be working against each other."
Farrow hopes next week's meeting will help "bridge the gap" between the working group and Capital Football.
"We want to get an understanding of their intent, what their model is and how we can work together," Farrow told The Canberra Times.
"I'd like to think week seven into this job that I still have an opportunity to gain some trust from fans.
"I'd like to be given a fair go. I'm not working this hard for Capital Football to close Canberra United down."
Capital Football revealed last week that $1.25 million per year was spent on United in the past two seasons, which threatened to impact soccer's 15,000 registered players in Canberra.
ACT Sport Minister Yvette Berry expressed concern about United's potential demise last week, prompting an advance on Capital Football's annual $250,000 funding for the team.
There were no further updates on the stalled Canberra A-League Men bid with the Australian Professional Leagues, with a $20 million backer - that was set to also take over United after securing a men's licence - yet to be announced.
"We are aware that the APL are working closely with the preferred investment group for Canberra on an unforeseen challenge outside their control, and we continue to work with them closely to inform our efforts," Farrow said.
Melanie Dinjaski
Melanie Dinjaski is an experienced sports journalist at the Canberra Times with a genuine love of all sports. She's covered every code from NRL to NFL. Melanie aims to bring Canberrans all the sports news they need to know. If you have a story worth sharing, get in touch!
Melanie Dinjaski is an experienced sports journalist at the Canberra Times with a genuine love of all sports. She's covered every code from NRL to NFL. Melanie aims to bring Canberrans all the sports news they need to know. If you have a story worth sharing, get in touch!
