Club hits back at prize fixing claims

Jenness Mitchell • Published 23 Aug 2012 09:00

TULLIBODY Community Football Club have hit back at allegations of prize fixing.

The Advertiser received a complaint following Tullibody Gala claiming that as the event was winding down those manning the local group's tombola stall were seen removing winning tickets from their pockets and then handing them to members of the club.

TCFC chairman Davy Reynolds refutes the accusation.

He stated that on the eve of the gala he personally ripped up the raffle tickets to be entered into tubs and labelled all the prizes - with help from his wife and neighbour. There was no way that anyone else could have been able to remove or extract the winning tickets.

There were spare winning tickets set aside for prizes donated on the day, but he fully trusts the people he left overseeing the stall.

Instead, the only issue brought to Davy's attention was individuals at the gala trying to take more tickets than they paid for - which later led to an incident where someone won a prize that had already been claimed.

Davy said, "I appreciate the concerns raised and have spoken to several members of the club. I believe that what actually happened was that due to some prizes being donated at a very late stage what people would have seen were these being labelled to match extra tickets that had been bought to the event for just that purpose. As all prizes were donations there was nothing to gain from stall members winning a prize over anyone else."

Those manning the stall were allowed to purchase a ticket as all funds were in aid of a good cause.

Perishable items leftover at the end were gifted to helpers as a thank you. The remainder have been stored for further fundraising events.

Tullibody, Cambus and Glenochil Community Council chair, Janette McGowan, said the allegation wasn't reported to the community council, hosts of the gala.

She said, "We have no reason to suspect the TCFC of any wrong doing. We have worked with them on projects in the past and have praised their volunteering efforts. If however someone does have genuine information that there was prize fixing or similar, we would like them to contact us in confidence and we will investigate it fully."

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This article appeared in Alloa & Hillfoots Advertiser 22 Aug 12

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