Berkshire grassroots football team, Caversham United, have used popular social media outlet Twitter to raise funds for charity over the course of 2022.

Established in 2015, the club has more than 15,000 followers between the men and women’s Twitter accounts, a staggering amount for a side playing in the Reading and District Sunday League.

On 27 December, the club announced that for every new follower gained before the New Year, they would donate £1 to charity.

The initiative led to 914 new followers; however, the club decided to raise the bar and have set a target of £2,000.

All money raised will be going to a range of charities, including but not limited to Balls to Cancer, Breast Cancer Now, with the club making efforts to reach out to local Reading-based charities.

 

 

Caversham United chairman, Paul Gutteridge, came up with the idea and wanted the efforts to reach as many people as possible.

He said:  “For this particular initiative, I thought it was a good idea to not only set us a fundraising target for 2022 but also to help the club to continue to gain followers on social media.

“With an increased follower reach, our charity fundraising efforts tend to be more effective and help us to continue to help others.

“Not only did our men’s team take part both the women’s team too, making this a whole club effort.”

 

Reading Chronicle:

Above: Current home kit, modelled by Matt from The Amazons, featuring Balls to Cancer as main sponsor

 

As well as lining up in midfield for the Billy Goats, Mr Gutteridge is in charge of the club’s famous Twitter account, believing the online presence has really developed the club on the field.

He said: “Initially it started off as some light entertainment for a bored commuter, inspired by the likes of AS Roma and Bayer Leverkusen, but it then took off in a big way!

“Having now had the social media channels for a few seasons and nearly 15,000 followers across the world, the efforts really have paid off.

“Our social media work has led to us finding new sponsorships, connecting with some great people in grassroots (and professional) football, being able to use our platform for promote positive messages and fundraise for charity and is generally a bit of fun too!

“We don’t take ourselves too seriously, but our brand has continued to grow.

“On the Twitter follower count, only the Reading FC and Reading FC Women Twitter accounts have more followers than us in all the football teams across the whole of Berkshire!”

 

 

Reading Chronicle:

Above: Women’s team in action

 

The Caversham Cup is one successful way money was raised in the past, with the inaugural competition won by Hashtag United, a successful non-league side run by popular YouTuber Spencer Owen and more than 590,000 YouTube subscribers.

Mr Gutteridge tells fans to watch this space, with a potential- Covid-19 permitting.

He continued: “We are no strangers to charity fundraising, and previous efforts have included charity football matches and tournaments such as the #CavershamCup, charity kit sales and raffles with prizes from some of our famous Twitter followers: AS Roma, Bayern Munich, Hashtag United.

“If the Covid-19 situation starts to clear, a #CavershamCup renewal would be very high on the list, and something kit related may also be on the horizon.”

 

Click here to find out more about the club.