FA Cup fundraiser: Bring football joy to Villans in need

You love football. I love football. A vast majority of the world loves football. It's the whole reason that we're on this site and it's one of the greatest unifying forces in the world.

Most everyone here played football at some point or another in our lives. It's a mind-bogglingly simple game when you break it down. All you need are a round object to act as a ball and your body. From there you can improvise a pitch, goals, and anything else you need. As long as you have a ball and a body, though, you're good to go.

But what if you're missing one of those two things? What if, thanks to forces beyond your control, your body is not capable of playing football in the way we take for granted? For many people with a wide range of disabilities, this situation is a reality. They love the sport just as much as any of us, but they lack access to the means to play it.

Luckily, there are organizations dedicated to making sure that everyone gets a chance to play the beautiful game. We're here to support one this week: the Villa Rockets Powerchair Football Club. The group was formed in 2005 to provide an opportunity for people with disabilities to partake in football on powerchairs.They have the passion to play. They have the drive. They even love Aston Villa and wear the claret and blue just like we do! The only thing they're missing to make their dreams of playing football come true is the chairs.

Over the next week, ending at 5 PM on June 1, we will be raising funds to help the Rockets buy a new chair. Though they are affiliated with Aston Villa in the Community, money for chairs must be raised on their own. We want to raise the £5,000 necessary to purchase a new chair and bumper for the club.

That's a lot of money, but every new chair means more people who can play football. The Rockets provide opportunities for football at all levels: from children who simply want to come and play to adults who wish to be a part of a competitive, nation-wide league.

By helping them get another chair, we will help more people get the opportunity to do what we all love. We will, in essence, be making sure that they have the one ingredient for football that they might otherwise be missing.

If we manage to outpace that goal, we'll keep going. There are plenty of other expenses that need to be met at the club, and more money will always help.

Throughout the week we will have interviews with players and support staff, an explanation of what powerchair football is, and regular updates on how we're doing in reaching our goal.

With Aston Villa playing in the FA Cup Final this Saturday and Premier League safety assured, the mood around the club is as high as it has been in years. Let's spread that joy to some fellow claret and blues and help them play the game that we all love.

If you can donate, please do. Even £1 helps. Heck, if we filled Villa Park, it would take only 12p from every person there to send us to our goal. While we don't have Villa Park, we tend to get at least that many readers in a week, so we can absolutely reach this goal with just a little effort.

Additionally, we'd appreciate you simply getting the word out by sharing our stories this week. With your help we can help make sure that more people get the joy of football.

How you can help

Donate by going here and clicking "sponsor now"

Share this story and those from the rest of the week.

Visit and like the Villa Rockets Facebook page.