Everyone knows that music and football go together like John Barnes and New Order. And this being a Scottish music blog, it's a well known fact that football is one of our countries other great passions (although unlike the music we aren't that good at it).
The community radio station, Pulse Community Radio on 98.4 FM, that gives Scottish Fiction a weekly slot, as well as airing other great shows, is a register charity and completely volunteer run organisation. The station is faced with footing a large bill for the cost of relocating to another premise by the end of 2013. Therefore over the next few months, here at Scottish Fiction, I'll be doing small bits and pieces aimed at raising some much needed funds to help both keep the station running and go towards the money needed for relocation.
The first of these is an idea I was going to do for fun anyway, so I've attached a fund-raising element along with it, and I present the very first Scottish Fiction Football League Sweepstake.
The concept is very simple. Simply select which football team you think will win each respective league. I've included the top four leagues in both Scotland and England, meaning in total you should have selected eight teams. The winner is the person who guess all eight correctly, or in the event of no-one guessing all eight correctly, the winner will be the person with the most correct answers. Simple? Here's the small print.
In the event of two people correctly guessing all eight, or an equal number of people sharing the most correct answers, there is a tie break question, 'Which team will score the most goals per league games during the season (not including play-offs)?' For example: Burnley score a total of 120 goals over 46 games giving a goals per game ratio of 2.61 whereas Kilmarnock score a total of 100 goals over 38 games giving a goals per game ratio of 2.63. Therefore Kilmarnock has a higher goals per games ratio. Make sense? Good. As the question states, end of season play off games do not count, and it is only league goals that are applicable.
Now you know how to win what exactly do you win and why should you even care? Well, to enter the sweepstake costs a mere £2. Exactly £1 of this goes straight to Pulse Community Radio, and the other £1 goes straight into the winners prize pot. That's it, no frills, no administration, no dodgy underhanded deals. You can enter as many times as you like thus boosting your chances of winning, although each entry is £2. The more people who take part, the higher the prize is, and the more money we can raise for Pulse Community Radio so please spread the word!
Below is the entry form, as well as a web link right here. To enter simply complete the form, including your name and a valid email. You will receive an email back confirming your choices, of which I will keep a copy of, and a request to make a PayPal payment for £2. There are no administration fees with this payment and the money will be held by the Pulse Community Radio management committee with the winner receiving their prize at the conclusion of the 2013-2014 football season. The closing date for entry is midnight on Sunday 18th August. The cut off for payment to be received will be midnight on Sunday 25th August. Any entrants who have not paid by this time, will have their entry made null and void. Payment is by PayPal only.
Thanks in advance for taking part, and good luck! It might seem like a long way off, but if you win a wee cash boost come May 2014 will be most welcome!
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Why should you care about Pulse Community Radio? Well rather selfishly without Pulse 98.4 FM there would be no Scottish Fiction radio show, no weekly airing of new Scottish music from unsigned, unheard and independent Scottish musicians, and no live sessions from some of Scotland's finest artists. But more than that, community radio, of which Pulse is just one of many stations, offers a different voice on the radio. It's a chance for radio programmes that wouldn't or can't find a home on commercial radio to get played. On Pulse 98.4 FM we have Scotland's biggest Polish language radio show, Scotland's biggest FM wrestling show, Scotland's only football show dedicated 100% to junior and amateur football, Scotland's only FM NFL show, shows dedicated to things such as spoken word and poetry, hip-hop, soul, funk, metal plus a wide selection of chat shows, magazine shows, and music programming. The station also prides itself on the work it carries out with young people, providing real training and radio broadcasting experience to school children from across East Renfrewshire and beyond.
Hopefully if you've found your way to this blog, you are a fan of promoting Scottish music, but more than that I hope you wish to keep radio alive as a format, and community radio is fast becoming the only place where real creativity and innovation can prosper given the cutbacks being made in the commercial radio sector.