Sporting public raise over ¼m for fund

Colm O’Connor

A fundraising appeal at Leopardstown Racecourse realised E100,000 while provincial football competitions along with rugby and golf also raised money. The figure is expected to grow substantially over the next week, according to GOAL, one of the aid agencies to benefit.

“The response of the Irish sporting public has been amazing,” Lisa O’Shea of GOAL said yesterday.

“We are already two weeks into the disaster and at this stage most of the public have already donated in some shape or form and we did acknowledge that before the weekend.

“But to come away from Leopardstown races with over E100,000 is staggering and as we speak, the figures from the GAA and the rugby, to name but two, are being finalised.

“Over E20,000 of that money raised at the races was through the celebrities who gave of their time to hold bucket collections at the course.”

A final figure on the money collected is expected by the weekend.

“The public response was incredible and there were various sporting events and competitions which we are only finding out about now. So it will take a few days to calculate how my that will raise. Throughout all sports, people dug deep. We are so humbled by the response from all whether it be competitors, spectators or organisers. This means lives will be saved.”

The Leinster Council collected E35,000 from O’Byrne Cup gate receipts at the weekend for GOAL’s Tsunami Disaster Appeal.

That figure is set to rise significantly when the Leinster Council pump in their own contribution as well as that from county boards and clubs.

Chairman Nicky Brennan praised the generosity of GAA punters, with the crowd in Newbridge for the Meath v Kildare game contributing E14,200.

Big-hearted Kildare players also chipped in with a combined E500 for the appeal, bringing the figure up to nearly E15,000.

The second-highest grossing game on Sunday was in Longford where about E12,000 was collected from the tie between Longford and Westmeath.

E4,475 was collected from the Laois/Kilkenny game, while on Saturday, over E4,000 was donated from the Dublin/Louth game in Drogheda.

The Munster Council are to donate monies from next weekend’s McGrath Cup quarter-finals to the relief effort, while the Connacht Council will be donating sums raised through their FBD Football League and knockairport.com hurling league action at the weekend.

Killeagh and Youghal raised over E20,000 in a long-puck competition.

The Irish Greyhound Board have asked regional tracks to help organise fundraising initiatives on January 27. Shelbourne Park have a target of E150,000, while Cork is bidding to collect E30,000.

Limerick and Newbridge will host nights on February 12 and January 22, respectively.

Internationally world cricket opened its collective hearts and wallets to the victims with a massive E10 million raised from their one-day charity match at the Melbourne Cricket Ground yesterday.