BATLEY BULLDOGS hope an appearance by former Rugby League player turned actor Adam Fogerty will help fire their floodlight appeal to new heights.
The West Yorkshire club are trying to generate more than £30,000 to go towards the ambitious project to upgrade the 30-year-old system at their Fox’s Biscuits Stadium home.
So far various efforts have raised more than £20,000 to bolster grant money and sponsorships.
Long-serving chairman Kevin Nicholas and former player Danny Maun walked the 30 miles to Oldham for the first league game of the season in February to bring in money for the floodlight fund.
Then suspended secondrow Dane Manning and his friend Mark Flynn cycled to last month’s match at London Broncos, a trip of more than 200 miles, with their efforts worth more than £4,000.
The Bulldogs are also staging a ‘mega raffle’ while the Hull FC Ex-Players’ Association have chipped in with £1,000.
Fogerty was a professional boxer before playing for hometown club Halifax, St Helens, whom he helped win the inaugural Super League title in 1996, Warrington and Keighley.
As an actor, he has appeared in films, on television and on stage, playing the role of country simpleton Costard in the Shakespeare comedy Love’s Labour’s Lost.
The 56-year-old will describe and tell stories of his journey ‘From Halifax to Hollywood’ at Batley’s ground on Friday (7.00pm), with tickets £10, including supper.
“We’re planning to install new wiring and 42 LED bulbs, which will improve brightness and should prove more economical in the long run,” explained Nicholas, whose involvement at the club goes back more than 25 years.
“It’s a pretty expensive operation, but it’s something we need to do, not just to meet the stadium standards but because we train at the ground as well.”
Prop Adam Gledhill and hooker Alistair Leak both made 250th Bulldogs appearances in the recent game against Sheffield.
