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4 months ago
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A Western Australian football club is taking a very risky approach to fundraising by raffling off the chance to name its home ground - and they don't care how bizarre the winner's choice is.
The Railways Football Club in Albany in the state's far south is building a new clubhouse as part of a $2million redevelopment, and they need to raise $500,000 to finish the job.
Now they're giving anyone in Australia the chance to pick the name of their footy field for 12 months, and they don't mind what the result is.
'Normally with something like this you would offer it to a business,' club president Wayne Stubber told the ABC.
'But what we're doing here is just letting anybody have the opportunity to put their nickname up there, or their name, or their dog, or whatever.
'It might be their favourite beer or anything like that ... Imagine someone sitting in the pub in Victoria and telling his mate that he's actually got a football pavilion in Western Australia named after him.
'We're pretty nervous, but we're pretty excited as well.
The Railways Football Club in Albany, Western Australia is giving one lucky Aussie the chance to name their home ground (pictured)
The club is redeveloping their ground but work has ground to a halt with the club desperately seeking $500,000 to finish the job (pictured)
'If it gets some traction and becomes really popular, it's something we might do on an annual basis.'
Asked what the club would do if a rival team from Great Southern Football League win the raffle and name the ground after their side, Stubber said, 'That's just what we've got to live with.
'If Royals from across the road were to win the raffle and wanted to name it Royal Stadium or something like that, we've just got to suck that up.
'We've actually said we're selling our soul.'
Want to name the club after your cat? Or your favourite brand of beer? This is your big chance, and tickets are just $25 each
Club president Wayne Stubber says the club will honour its promise to adopt whichever name the winner chooses - even if the winner is a rival footy team (pictured, the Railways side celebrate a win)
The Railways raffle brings back memories of a British competition to name a polar research vessel (pictured) which ended up being called 'Boaty McBoatface' in 2016
The redevelopment will see the clubhouse completely revamped with new changing rooms, but Railways ran out of money before the job could be completed and now they're stuck in what they describe as a 'rusty and mouldy' building that's part construction site.
'To put it simply, we are up s**t creek without a paddle,' the club said in a slick video created to advertise the raffle.
The winner of the raffle - which you can enter here for $25 a ticket - will also get return flights for two to watch a game of their choice at the freshly named ground.
Railways' brave decision to throw the naming rights over to everyday Aussies is reminiscent of what happened when Britain's National Environment Research Council gave the public the chance to decide on a name for their polar research ship in 2016.
'Boaty McBoatface' received almost 125,000 votes - more than four times the second-placed choice.
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