I currently run a football team, and thanks from having a great set of lads at the club, we put a lot of time and effort into fundraising for charity. We are currently involved with a charity that helps disabled children to lead a more independent life, and I thought I'd let you into a few of the ways that we, as an organisation, raise much needed funds for this great cause.

Obviously having two teams is a real help, as we have up to 30 people involved with the club most weekends, but if you make the effort you will normally find that the whole community gets on board in the fundraising.

Here's a few of the things that we do as a club to help money for charity.

Marathon Running

A few of our lads are very keen runners, and this year as well as last we have two entrees into the London Marathon. We help to support them during their training and obviously everyone at the club makes the effort to make a donation to the lads who are taking part. As the race gets nearer, the participants both stop playing, but thankfully they're much better at running than they are at football so it's not a massive loss! (Sorry lads!)

Charity Events

This year will be hosting a club night at a local venue with a host of DJ's and bands playing. A few of the guys in the team are either in local bands or are solo artists, so we can sell tickets through there fan base. I also run an event company myself, so I provide all the equipment for free, along with the services of some local DJ's. The event is a fun night and not too serious, so some people who wouldn't normally get behind the decks will be having a spin, plus we'll be holding a good old fashioned meat raffle too!

Charity Football Matches

A pretty obvious way to raise funds from a football team is of course to organise some charity games. Always a good idea to choose a nice venue with good facilities which will give people the chance to play somewhere different. If you organise well in advance and tell the venue it's for charity they are usually really helpful. We organised a few games in pre season and managed to raise about £500 for charity, and all we did was have a game of football between work teams. Most people won't turn their noses up to paying £10 match subs if they are playing on a great surface under floodlights. The old delusions of grandeur come flooding back for everyone, even me!

So there you go, just a few ideas of how a football team can get together and help raise much needed funds for a chosen charity. It’s a lot of fun for everyone taking part (apart from maybe the marathon runners!) and a great way to bring together a whole community though the best game in the world.