DSU’s women’s footballers are in celebratory mood after winning £500 in a national competition.
DSU’s women’s footballers are in celebratory mood after winning £500 in a national competition.
The competition was organised by Split the Bills, a utility provider for students, with the aim of providing financial support to a lucky team or society by way of sponsorship.
Abi Battisto, DMUWFC Chairwoman, said that the money would be a great help in buying some much-needed match gear.
She said: “It will be really good and will go towards our football equipment.
“Funding’s a bit tight, at the minute. We’ve got our third team now, who are not officially in BUCS but they play friendlies, so we can get them a kit, so it feels official as well.
“It will help with more balls, more kit, and things like that.”
Also in the running for the prize were DSU’s women’s rugby club and, as the two clubs share a close relationship, the footballers will donate a fifth of their winnings to their rugby counterparts.
Abi, who studies Arts and Festival Management, said: “We’re quite close with them, so we said we’ll give them £100.
“We sometimes borrow some of their players, they borrow some of ours.
“We all get on and the fact they got to the final [of the competition] as well, and worked as hard as us, it’s nice for us to be able to give them something.”
As part of their entry, the girls created an amusing music video to promote their cause, which Abi believes helped to steal a march on the others in contention for the prize.
She said: “The video was funny compared to everyone else’s – everyone else’s was really serious.
“Everyone we’ve spoke to, even the people at Split the Bills, said ours was the funniest, so it did help us a lot.”
The video’s script was written by the club’s health and safety officer, Charlotte Batey, and parodied the theme tune to the Fresh Prince of Bel Air.
Filmed on various locations around campus and Leicester, the video even featured a cameo appearance from VP Student Activities Dan Winney, who Abi praised for his support.
She also said that filming the video was a great experience, adding: “It was really fun. It was nice to have everyone there getting involved.
“I think we had about 40 girls turn up to help out with the video. It was a big turnout and everyone wanted to put the effort in.”
The prize is the cherry on the cake for the club, as it continues to go from strength to strength with this year’s formation of a third-team and the seconds entering BUCS for the first time, picking up some important victories including last week’s win against Anglia Ruskin.
Meanwhile, the first-team are looking strong favourites to win their league, and the club recently won the ‘Most Improved’ award at the VC’s dinner.
They are also trying to organise a friendly with a Split the Bills side to take place in Sheffield, as a way of thanking them.
Abi said: “They like to be really involved with everyone that they have as customers, especially sports teams, and I think it’s really good to be interactive with them as they’ve helped us out loads.”
To find out more about Split the Bills, you can visit their website here.