An Oban teenager and his pals have smashed a fundraising target to buy goals for their local football pitch in Longsdale, after a set was vandalised – twice.
Oban High School pupil Ruari MacLeod and his friends sprang into action to save their favourite football field.
“The vandalism happened twice,” Ruari’s mum Tricia told us. After the first time, Ruari’s dad Calum and another father chipped in for repairs to the goal posts, only for them to get destroyed again.
“It is a shame people have to vandalise,” Tricia said. “They see it and have to destroy it.”
Ruari and his friends, who have loved playing football on that patch of grass for years, were then left with only one set of goals.
“That is the place to go to play with his pals,” Tricia said. “He is 13, and his friends are 13 as well. They have so much fun. They just want to play football.”
After the vandalism, the boys got together and came up with a plan, with Ruari setting up a fundraising page on gofundme.com. But the task was daunting.
“It is a lot of money,” Tricia said. “They are not cheap.”
Ruari’s original target was £250 – but he smashed right through that. “We could not believe the number of people donating,” Tricia said, as the total raised reached £300, then £400, and then a whopping £500.
“Ruairi wants to buy one set and some nets. He is waiting to see if he gets his [new] target of £550. Once he gets to his target, that will be it.”
And he topped that easily, achieving £610 before closing the fundraising page.
“It is nice they have taken it on themselves to do it,” Tricia said. “He wanted to give back to the kids. I was quite proud of him.”