The Magpies final pre-season friendly fixture away against Weymouth will be part of the hosts' Dorset Fan Festival event taking place at The Bob Lucas Stadium on Saturday 30 July.
Announcement from Weymouth FC in full:
Weymouth FC and Dorchester Town FC are excited to announce that our friendly on the 30th July will form part of a Dorset Fan Festival taking place at the Bob Lucas Stadium on that day.
This event will provide a range of activities for everyone during the day, including live music, beer stands and stalls set up by local businesses and charities and chances for you to win/purchase merchandise. There will also be a Youth team tournament taking place in the morning, which gives young players an opportunity to play on the pitch, and of course the friendly fixture between Weymouth FC and Dorchester Town FC. We are also eager to be welcoming local businesses who will be getting involved with this Fan Festival, in order to strengthen our ever growing relationships with the wider community. This event, as a whole, gives a great opportunity for local fans in Dorset to come together and enjoy a social occasion at the Bob Lucas Stadium.
Speaking to Dorset Echo, Weymouth Director Mark Palmer commented: “It’s going to be quite a big day and we want the Dorset community saying that there’s some unity going on, it’s a celebration of Dorset football. This is a really important event to bring football fans within the Dorset community together. We’re looking forward to a day of events and family interaction with both clubs. We really want to give the fans of both teams a really good send-off into the respective new seasons. OK, there’s still the rivalry there, but it’s a more friendly rivalry than with Yeovil! There’s going to be lots of activities, we’re going to be talking to lots of local companies that want to get involved in terms of reaching out to the public and having stalls. With the live music, we’re looking to get the best of the local band talent, which is great for the local music scene because they can showcase themselves to the local audience. It’s going to be a good, fun day.”
Lee Loder, Director of Dorchester Town Football Club, commented: "We are really happy to be working with Weymouth FC on this Dorset Fan Festival. We hope to bring the fans of both clubs together, along with the wider public across Dorset, to promote both football clubs, and non league football in general. Our aim is to raise awareness of football in our area, and people attending the event may ultimately enjoy supporting their local club during the new season ahead. Recently we have worked with Weymouth FC on several occasions, and we hope to keep building on our relationships between the two clubs. Let’s hope for good weather, great football and lots of fun on the day. “