Colchester United: League Two club to donate gate receipts from Forest Green match to Ukraine aid
- Published
Colchester chairman Robbie Cowling has vowed all gate receipts from the game against Forest Green will go towards aiding Ukrainian civilians
Colchester United will donate all gate receipts from their League Two match against Forest Green later this month to humanitarian aid efforts in Ukraine.
All tickets to the game, taking place on Monday, 21 March, will cost £10.
Colchester are also seeking the English Football League's permission to wear a special yellow and blue kit in the style of Ukraine's national team.
The club said it hoped the initiative would "raise much-needed funds to help the evacuation of Ukrainian civilians".
More than 1.7m people have fled from the eastern European country in the wake of the invasion by Russia that began almost a fortnight ago, according to the United Nations.
"The generations in my family that came before me, including my parents, grandparents and great-grandparents, fought for the freedom and the peace that I have been fortunate enough to enjoy during my lifetime," said U's owner and chairman Robbie Cowling., external
"I appreciate that there will be some who have not been so fortunate and may have come to Colchester to escape regimes where such privileges could not be taken for granted in the way I have been able to.
"All I have been able to do so far is watch the news and marvel at the kindness being shown by those people in the countries that neighbour Ukraine, such as Poland, and wonder what can be done to help those refugees that have been forced out of their homes and their normal lives and into a foreign country and an uncertain future."
Colchester sit 19th in League Two, five points above the relegation zone, and their match against leaders Forest Green, who enjoy an eight-point cushion at the top of the table, will be shown live on television.
The U's have pledged to "make up the difference" for any tickets already purchased, such as season tickets, and will ask any complimentary ticket holders, as a one-off, to pay the £10 fee.
"Where the club is obliged to give a complimentary ticket and can't persuade the recipient to pay for it, then I will pay for it," added Cowling.
Should Colchester be allowed by the EFL to wear the planned one-off kit for the game, the club said it would auction off the shirts to raise further funds towards the cause.