MARIBOR TRIP RAFFLE WIINERS

Over the past 12 months Wigan Athletic supporters and indeed ‘other’ groups and individuals have taken a local cause to heart and raised funds for a very worthy charity, Joseph’s Goal. The organisation, Vital Latics have had an opportunity to do their bit, so to speak, with the Latics F.A. cup success and subsequent qualification for European football they ran coach trips to both Wembley and Bruges, giving providing an opportunity to do some fund raising for Joseph’s Goal via quizzes and raffles on the coaches.

On the latest venture to Belgium there was a raffle for two return flights to Maribor on the 12th December, when the Latics face the Slovenians in the Europa League. The two winners of the raffle are, Mike Grundy and Cammy Barnes. As often is the case though there is a story within the story,
During the Vital coach trip to Bruges last month a raffle for tickets to raise much needed funds for the Joseph’s Goal charity, bringing the amount raised so far this year on the away days to about £3000, that is testament to the generosity of all Latics fans. Joseph’s parents Emma and Paul have asked to personally thank all of you for your continued support of this worthy cause.

This latest raffle had two cracking prizes, a seat on the Vital/Sport Options flight to Maribor for our final Europe League group game on 12th December. The draw for the prizes was made live on Wish FM on Sunday 6th October, prior to the Blackburn Rovers game by Paul Kendrick and ex Latics player, WISH FM commentator and Wigan Athletic Football Club Community Liaison officer Neil Rimmer.

Two tickets were drawn and the lucky winners are 16 year old Cameron Barnes from Winstanley, who happens to be a ball boy at the D.W. Stadium and Mike Grundy, from Billinge. Cameron and Mike were invited down to the D.W. Stadium on Thursday to receive their flight tickets from Neil Rimmer.

Cameron related how he found out he had won the trip. He couldn’t be at Sundays game due to playing in a football tournament in Cumbria and was receiving strange texts from mates about winning something which he couldn’t quite understand, seems he had forgotten about the raffle, only when his friends mum, who heard the draw on WISH FM, rang her son asking him to pass the news on did it sink in. The rest of his team mates, some who had been with him in Belgium and purchased many more raffle tickets than Cameron’s one and only, then proceeded to turn the air blue with claims of what a lucky so and so he was.

Mike Grundy’s story is a remarkable one in overcoming adversity in pursuit of following this great football club we all support, Mike is registered blind and has been unsighted since birth, he travels to as many away games as he can, he has a close group of friends who assist him and commentate to him as the game unfolds, sometimes the only restriction he has in attending games is there are times when no one is available to travel with him.

Mike doesn’t let his disability interfere with supporting the Latics and he is just a normal fan with all the fears and insecurities watching Wigan over the years brings out in all of us. To the group who help Mike out on a weekly basis; you must be a very special group of mates.

When Miles Saward, the Managing Director of Sport Options, heard Mike’s story, he immediately offered a free place on the flight so that one of his friends could accompany him to Slovenia.

So now Mike you have a dilemma :S which one of your friends do you take along??? Perhaps a solution would be to hold a raffle in aid of Joseph’s goal. ;)