For those supporters that missed it in our last programme, we published a feature with long-serving volunteer Patrick Peel-Barnard about a typical matchday selling Golden Goal tickets.
Patrick provides an interesting insight to his matchday, which involves plenty of interaction with the rest of his team and supporters, before a well-earned post-match pint or two!
Tickets will be on sale at the Barrow game (priced at just £1) with the top prize of £100 (all funds raised are donated to the Club), so look out for our Golden Goal sellers on Saturday.
You can read Patrick’s full account of his matchday below.
As the sun rises on my ninth season volunteering at AFC Wimbledon, the joy and anticipation of arriving early for a game is even stronger now with the station changing from Norbiton to Haydons Road. I am aware that some reading this may be new to AFC Wimbledon and may have never heard of or seen a Golden Goal.
Fans can buy lucky-dip scratch-cards, which reveal a player number and minute. When someone scores, match up the player number to the order they are announced on the team sheet and the minute they score, and you will win £100 for the first goal, or £25 for the second goal. All proceeds go to the Dons Trust, and any unclaimed prizes are donated to the AFC Wimbledon Foundation. Although Golden Goals are yet to be sold at Plough Lane until today, we’ve already had one season here to establish the habits of our pilgrimage and help our friends in the programme-selling team.
Jumping off the train, my girlfriend Maria and I quickly pop into the coffee shop by the station for a quick caffeine boost. Walking down the Haydons Road, talking about the Womble Aces, we arrive at the ground around 12 o’clock. We are on the lookout for Maria’s dad, Jim, who is likely already at the ground, chatting to our fellow volunteers.
Next, we collect ID lanyards for the Golden Goals team. We hand these out along with tickets, cash floats and card readers, and they then take up their preassigned positions around the stadium. Except for switching printed paper for scratch-cards, not a huge amount has changed in the nine years since Maria introduced me to helping our predecessors Roger and Linda Dennis sell Golden Goals back at Kingsmeadow.
Back then, despite playing football semi-competitively for over ten years, I had never had a team to commit to - to ride the weekly rollercoaster of emotions that come with this exercise of agony and ecstasy. In the time that I have been volunteering, I feel like I have played my part along with so many others, and I would not change it for anything. Alongside giving back to the club, the best thing about selling Golden Goals is getting to chat with other fans, and a particular highlight is when I found out that last week, I sold a winning ticket!
Back to selling. It is up to us to ensure the team is kept equipped with cash and tickets, as some areas of the stadium sell out quicker than others. We all head back to the meeting point around 2:45pm, to ensure everyone is in their seats ahead of the walk out. The three of us ensure all admin tasks are completed ahead of the next home game, and then focus on enjoying the match (whilst keeping an eye on the clock of course)!
At the end of the match, we make our way to the club shop entrance to distribute the prizes to any lucky winners. Once handed over, it’s then on to the pub for a well-earned pint, or two…
Last Golden Goal win is still unclaimed!
If you bought a ticket for the Doncaster game, please go back and double-check as the last winner has still to claim their prize.
Details are below for the winner:
Player = SUB, Minute = ANY
The deadline for claiming is on Saturday (either in person, just outside club shop during or after the game), or by e-mailing goldengoals@thedonstrust.org before midnight.