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Matthew Melling, a coach of the Wigan Dodgeball Warriors, is appealing for the people of Wigan to help the team get to the international showdown in Cairo later this year.

Having competed in the previous two tournemants and finishing second each time, the club has been fund-raising for the trip since 2019 using a variety of methods including bag-packing at supermarkets.

But upon booking the flights, an error resulted in an incorrect charge of £3,000 which left the team with a substancial defecit in their funding, compared to what the trip would cost in total.

Matthew Melling hopes that the community can help get the team to Cairo for the World Cup

And while trying to rectify the issues with the booking, prices have increased significantly - flights have gone from £500 to £840 – meaning that estimated bill is now woefully short.

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Matthew said: “The increase in the price of flights have blown our estimations out of the water.

"You’d think that the original figure would have been enough for each child and one parent to cover travel, accommodation and maybe additional expenses!”

The flights have since been booked, but the price hike has meant that more funds are needed to cover the fees for accommodation, especially with the impact of inflation since 2019.

In order to try to raise further funds the team will be fund-raising on Saturday October 22 by completing the Haigh Hall Park Run as well as attending the Rugby World Cup fixture at the University of Bolton Stadium.

It is currently a make or break situation and the World Cup hopes rest on the money that can be raised by the public, currently requiring up to an additional £7,000.

Donations can be made at the teams just giving page: https://www.gofundme.com/f/wigandodgeballwarriors2020-dodgeball-worldcup

Matthew said: “The people of Wigan have already been so helpful and incredibly kind towards us already, we just need one last push to make sure we can make it.

“If people can share or donate anything and help us a find a way to make this dream to represent Wigan and England a reality, please do.”

Wigan dodgeball team fund-raising for World Cup after booking error