The compassionate side of the West Coast Eagles past players will again be at the fore when they put their collective weight behind an appeal to help Perth’s needy.
The OWLS (Older, Wiser, Larger, Slower) will come together for the game against the Gold Coast Suns at Domain Stadium on May 16 and will encourage fans to donate cans in the Cans For A Cause promotion in aid of Foodbank WA .
An off-shoot of the Coats for a Cause program, which was engineered by dual premiership midfielder, current assistant Don Pyke and his wife Jodie, Cans for a Cause is also driven by the OWLS. They will appeal to West Coast fans attending the game to donate canned foods to aid people of Perth who are less fortunate.
West Coast legend John Worsfold and a string of other past players will man gates 8, 10, 19 and 26 where donations will be accepted. People who cannot attend the match can either visit the Foodbank website, or drop their donation into the club during normal business hours.
Worsfold said the past players were always keen to give something back to the community particularly through an initiative like this one.
“It is nice to be able to contribute in a small way, to help out good causes,” Worsfold said. “Especially a cause the West Coast Eagles are behind and one that’s driven by Don and Jodie Pyke.
“It’s awesome to be involved and to have so many premiership players involved. Obviously they are a big part of club history, but we always acknowledge we got a lot out of the club and every opportunity we have to give back to the club, we will be part of it.”
Pyke, who has been at the forefront of this program for the last four years (starting as Coats for a Cause), gets on the phone and drums up support from former players to get the enthusiasm rolling.
“It’s a shout out to the guys to get involved,” Pyke said. “Woosha is going to be involved and so are a few of my teammates from the 90s, but we will have generations of past players engaged on the day.
“They are all part of the evolution of the OWLS and the footy club.”
Greg Hebble, Chief Executive Officer of Foodbank, said his organisation was delighted to have the OWLS and the West Coast Eagles and was hopeful the appeal would be similarly successful to last year when 6.5 tons of cans, equating to 8700 meals were donated by Eagles fans.
