Hibernian Supporters were delighted to welcome a number of members of the Vancouver Hibs Supporters Club as new and restarted contributors recently.
With an increase in the number of donations over the last few weeks and with the new season on the horizon after over four months without football, Hibernian Supporters can provide fans near and far with the chance to help the club.
Vancouver Hibs was established in 2015, with exiled Hibee Darren Hutchison keen to meet other like-minded fans in his new home city.
“I had met various Hibs fans through the local Tartan Army group and over my 10 years in the city and just thought it would be a great idea to start up a group so we could get together to watch some games or just have a couple of beers to talk Hibs and football,” Darren explained.
With football on hold for large parts of this year Vancouver Hibs have been unable to get together as regularly as they normally would. Like most during the Covid-19 pandemic the Vancouver Hibs meet-ups have had to take place on digital platforms.
“There’s around 30 in our group and about half are active, meeting up or engaging in the Facebook group. We haven’t met much over the past year for various reasons including the recent Covid-19 pandemic.
“Before that we would meet for 4-6 games a season (and a couple of times just for a summer get together). We do keep in touch via the Facebook group though and that’s where I encouraged members to contribute to Hibernian Supporters.”
A recent surge in contributors led to over £24,000 being donated to the club for the month of June. Among those new and restarted donations are a number of fans from Vancouver Hibs, with Darren encouraging others to sign up on the group’s Facebook page.
“We just felt it was time for us to help a little during this uncertain period. I think we all do our bit each year in terms of buying new tops and merchandise so this was just something extra we could do to support the club.”
With football’s return a little less than three weeks away Hibernian are due to welcome Kilmarnock to Easter Road behind closed doors on Saturday 1st August. Darren is very much looking forward to seeing Hibs back on his screen and he can’t wait until fans are allowed back to matches.
“I would have said I was looking forward to the first Edinburgh derby but that might not be on the cards for quite a while. It will be good to get some clarity around just what the club has available to spend and I’m excited to see how Jack Ross strengthens the team.
“Of course, we’re all just looking forward to football returning but especially in front of fans and a full Easter Road, hopefully we can finish in the top three and get into Europe.”
If you would like to join Hibernian Supporters, you can do so in just a few moments by clicking here.
