THERE’S still plenty of time to get involved in an Online Fundraising Competition devised by vibrant mid-Tyrone club Beragh Red Knights.

For just 20 quid, you can with a few clicks place your name in the hat for some massive prizes (the choice of £50,000 cash or a £50k tractor, or a motor-home or car worth £40k plus £10,000 in cash – not bad, eh) and in doing so you’ll also be playing your part in assisting with the club’s ambitious new developments.

The club’s vice-chairman, Ger Treacy, has already helped oversee some major changes in the club in the last 15 years – a pristine new sports pavilion and community hub serving the needs of the entire community; a new walkway on the banks of the Cloghfin river which flows around the club grounds; refurbishing their pitch; and the installation of flood defences to cite just a few examples.

Treacy says they’re now ready to move on with the next stage of their developments, including a new spectator stand and community gym.

“This is the centenary of the club being named the ‘Beragh Red Knights’ and we want to leave some form of legacy for our present and future generations.

“Our plans for the year ahead include a new 600-seater stand and a community gym, and we’re also activity seeking to purchase some land as demand has outstripped supply and we’re looking more training space for our teams and young players.

“Initially we intended running a fundraiser within our own community and you’d get your name on a seat in the new stand if you paid a certain amount, but with Covid that wasn’t going to be possible, so four or five of us together and worked hard on this Online Competition, which we launched on March 16.”

Treacy hopes that GAA folk across the province will be drawn to the Competition by the very impressive £50k choice of prizes on offer, and he assures their generosity will be returned by the people of Beragh if the shoe ever happens to be on the other foot.

“We know we can rely on the local community, but we need more than that to make it the success we need it to be. All people have to do is login to https://bustercompetitions.com/competitions/beragh-red-knights/, and for a 20 quid punt you could end up with a magnificent prize worth £50,000. People are already entering the Competition in significant numbers but we’re asking the wider sporting community to row in behind us.

“We know that other Clubs will be embarking on similar developments down the line, and they’ll be well-supported if they come to the Beragh area to raise funds, so this is our opportunity to ask those clubs across Ulster and further afield to row in behind our developments.”

A progressive and ambitious club, their senior men’s team have cemented their Intermediate status in the last number of years after a long stint in the Junior ranks. Treacy sees no reason why they can’t go even further in the none-too-distant future.

“We talked 10 or 12 years ago that we wanted the best facilities for our footballers, handballers and for our community and we knew then that to have the best and to be the best we would have to work really hard on and off the field.

“We have done that and are continuing to do so and we are proud of the facilities that are already in place which are allowing our players to be the best they can be. We have more work to do to finish our capital developments and hence this fundraising Competition, however we have also focussed hard on having the right coaching structures in place so that we can maximise the talents of our youth at both male and female football and handball.

“We’ve over 60 coaches involved with boys and girl’s teams from U6 up to seniors, those 60 coaches are investing an awful lot of time and effort every evening of the week and their superb efforts over recent years is now starting to pay off.

“The senior men’s team has cemented their place in Intermediate football – Ryan McCluskey has come in and is doing a terrific job and is getting great buy in from the players.

“Our ambition is to get to Division One and we’d like to think we will in the next few years. We’ve very good youth coming through and I don’t want to put them under pressure but we believe with the youth we have coming, combined with the talents that currently exist in our Senior Team this will take us to silverware at the top level and that’s what we want and that’s why everyone is putting in such a huge effort to drive the Club forward both on and off the field.

“We have our handball as well, we believe we’re the best handball club in Ulster and maybe further afield. We’ve two new state of the art handball alleys, terrific coaches in place and very enthusiastic young players. Prior to the pandemic the alleys were being really well-utilised and our young and adult players were excelling themselves.”

So with a lot of the pieces of the jigsaw in place the Red Knights are giving things one further push in their fundraising efforts to allow them to finish of their excellent community and sporting facilities.

Further information on the fundraising and the Red Knights development plans can be obtained on social media and via club officials and members or you can go here directly to participate in the competition https://bustercompetitions.com/competitions/beragh-red-knights/.