WCFC plea for $50,000 bailout

Wollongong Community Football Club have gone cap-in-hand to the community for $50,000 to ensure it survives a nightmare inaugural season.Director Vic Cuoco last week emailed more than 60 contacts - including Socceroo Scott Chipperfield, Macarthur Federal MP Sharon Bird and Football South Coast Board chairman Eddy de Gabriele - appealing for $50,000 "fast" to help the NSW Premier League cellar dwellers pay their debts.The passionate plea calls for the region's football supporters to dip into their pockets and help the struggling club pull through a traumatic infancy."Dear all, I'm desperate again for money ... our local football team who are not travelling well but are trying their guts out need more financial help," Cuoco wrote. "We have to find $50k fast. We have done what we promised we would do and that was give young players from this region a go ... we have done this and although the results have not reflected the efforts, it is about the young talent in this area."Cuoco's message foreshadows WCFC's collapse - less than 12 months after the demise of its predecessors Wollongong Wolves - if the cash isn't forthcoming."I don't want this team to fold and I'm determined to get them over the line for a fresh start next year," he wrote.Cuoco confirmed he received a few donations after the email, but that the club could be well short of meeting its financial obligations.A fundraiser is planned for next month and the club is also negotiating with separate potential backers for the rest of 2009 and beyond."We have always said we were going to have a hole to fill at the end of the season," Cuoco said."We will meet the commitments to the end of July and in the next six to eight weeks will need to fulfil our obligations for August."Included in the expenses are an estimated $30,000 for the players. "There is some money that is coming to make sure they are paid for the end of June, then we have to worry about the July payments," Cuoco said.Cuoco confirmed WCFC owed Wollongong Epic Events - the owners of the defunct Wollongong Wolves - $13,000 after the consortium paid the club's $38,000 NSW Premier League entry fee last November.The licence was to be paid back through community pledges but $13,000 of the donations remain uncollected.