It’s not the sort of fundraiser you’d see a Junior Rugby League Club in the city doing and chances are they won’t be doing it in Dubbo, but the Cobar Junior Rugby League Club Give A Goat fundraiser has all the makings of being a very profitable one.
The junior league committee is asking local landholders to Give A Goat For a Rooster next time they sell a load of goats.
“If locals can help by donating one goat from their load, it will go a long way to helping with the club’s travel and running expenses,” Cobar Junior Rugby League committee member Emma Barton said.
“They just need to let their local goat buyer know they want to support the club, and they will do the rest.”
Emma said she recently floated the novel Give A Goat fundraising idea at a junior league committee meeting.
She said it was something she and husband Graeme had done in 2007 as a fundraiser when they were Dancing Under the Stars contestants raising money for the Lilliane Brady Village.
“Everyone at the meeting said it was a good idea and it has the potential to raise a lot of money,” Emma said.
She said the committee needs to raise extra funds this season as they now have four Cobar Roosters teams entered in the Dubbo & District Junior Rugby League competition.
“Last year we had three teams, this year we’ll have four – Under 10s, Under 12s, Under 14s and Under 16s, which is good but it means our travel costs will be more this season with an extra team.”
Emma said they also plan to expand their mini league home competition to now include four and five year olds which will mean the club will need more team guernseys and more balls.
“We pretty much need new balls each season and some of our training gear like tackle bags is getting a bit old,” she said.
After a number of years of rebuilding, the club is currently in a good position with a lot of local interest being shown in junior rugby league.
“It’s grown over the past four to five years through a lot of hard work by a dedicated group of parents,” Emma said.
“We just want to give kids the opportunity to play footy, to play a game that they love.”
The club also hopes to see their junior players carry on to play in the senior competition.
