Prince Rupert’s newly formed soccer club, the Prince Rupert Football Club, is gearing up for the 2011 soccer season and are currently fundraising and training for their first ever tournament.
Local James Brown has been appointed the Team Manager for the Prince Rupert Football Club (or PRFC) and spoke with The Prince Rupert Northern View late last week about the PRFC’s team, The United.
“It’s a team consisting of all different nations. We all have different ethnic backgrounds so we thought “United” would fit this team because we’re really a United Nations team,” laughed Brown.
“Everything is going really good. We all have positive vibes.”
The soccer team consists of around 30 players who practice together every Sunday, Monday and Wednesday, as well as optional days in between at the Pattulo Field located by the Jim Ciccone Civic Centre. Brown says that the team is always open for more players and that they encourage people to join. Organizers hope to have enough people in the club to form two teams so that they can practice against one another.
Brown reiterated that anyone who is interested in joining is encouraged to do so. The only requirements the team has is that players have their own gear, they must be older than 15 and they must be willing to help volunteer for their team. As there is no cost to join the PRFC, the team covers costs by fund raising.
“We fundraise to minimize the cost. A lot of people know what it’s like in this economy to not be able to afford to do things. We have a lot of players who appreciate that on this team,” explained Brown.
The United team has been fundraising to support themselves by holding hot dog sales, bottle drives, and raffles. Brown mentioned that through fundraising The United have been doing well, receiving enough money to purchase new jerseys for the team.
However, the PRFC will need to do more fund raising in order to support their plans to partake in their first soccer tournament, which will be held Hazelton. The Gitsegukla Tournament will be held over the May Long weekend against teams from around the region.
Additionally, the PRFC are hoping to organize a scrimmage with teams from Terrace and Hazelton to be played over the Seafest celebrations, but have not received any response from potential opposing teams yet.