Kentish Football

Fans open virtual stadium to raise funds for Maidstone United

Wednesday 23rd December 2009
TWO Maidstone United supporters are playing their part in raising funds for the club’s new stadium at James Whatman Way, writes Stephen McCartney.


Maidstone United Football Club have unveiled a 49,600-seater stadium.  It was built in just nine months but not a blade of grass was distributed during construction.

That’s because it is a virtual stadium – the brainchild of a couple of supporters who want their club back in Kent’s county town after an absence of more than 20 years. 

The online stadium available at www.maidstoneunitedvirtualstadium.com is believed to be a world first. Seats are selling for £6.99 with £5 from each sale going to the Bring the Stones Home appeal – a supporter-led fundraising campaign. 

The virtual stadium has four bars, all named after former players, including ex-England manager Peter Taylor. Each bar features an exclusive interview available only to stadium members. 

Members can also access a virtual tea bar where they can pop in for a chat with others and a games room boasting a selection of football challenges. They can also search for people in the stadium by name or the team they support. 

Maidstone United fans Jamie Barber and Steve Savage have spent many hours of their spare time designing and building the website. 

In an article published on the club’s official website www.maidstoneunited.co.uk, Mr Barber said: “This is a real and tangible way to raise a substantial proportion of money for the new stadium. It gives the club’s supporters and anyone who loves the game the chance to be part of football and internet history. I hope work will start on the real stadium as milestones are reached on the virtual version. 

“If a couple from Essex can mastermind the Christmas number one from their living room, I’m hoping we can achieve the Stones' homecoming with this unique concept.” 

Every member of the virtual stadium has multiple chances to win £1,000. A prize draw will be held for every 1,000 seats sold. They can also get commission for referring other people to the site.

Seats cost £6.99.  £5 goes to the fundraising campaign.  The remainder goes on the referral and prize draw pots and 49p to Google Checkout who provided the online payment system.

Supporters raised over £1,200 within the first 24 hours of the scheme and the website has attracted over 1,000 hits.

This is the ideal opportunity to get the people of Maidstone involved in building the new ground and the club and it’s supporters hope to follow this up by doing one or two road shows in the county town to further increase the profile of this campaign.

“The idea is pretty unique and we hope that it will not only attract the attention of the population of Maidstone, but also further afield and fans of other teams.” said a club spokesman.

Coupled with the success off the Christmas draw, which raised a further £1,600 for the campaign, the totaliser has been ticking over very nicely and a total of £15,314 has already been raised this year.








 

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