15,500 pints to save football club (article from the BBC)
A cash-starved football team has agreed to down more than 15,500 pints of beer to pay off huge debts - to a brewery.
County Durham club Willington AFC's entire squad and management team are sinking as many pints as possible to slash the debt that threatens to close the ground.
The club owes thousands of pounds to a brewery and are in danger of going under.
But in a bizarre deal, brokered by an MP, the brewery has agreed to swallow up the debt if the club can sell more ale.
Willington plays in the Albany Northern League
Between them the club's players and diehard fans will have to drink 15,634 pints to clear the £3,800 debt.
The storm-in-a-pint glass saw the Albany Northern League Second Division outfit threatened with a court battle by drink suppliers InterBrew if the money was not paid within seven days.
That would have seen the 96-year-old club penniless and evicted from its ground.
Chairman John Phelan said: "We'll all be ringing Alcoholics Anonymous by Christmas.
"There was no way we could have afforded that kind of money. It would have finished us off. We were then offered a payment plan which would have stretched us to the limit.
"Our players and supporters end up in the club house after the match and usually have just one or two pints.
Loan agreement
"But they are going to have to get their hands in their pockets and guzzle the beer like never before if they want to keep the team.
"Normally we like our players to keep off the drink because it slows them down on the pitch.
"We had to get the debt down and this is as good a way to do it as any of us can think of."
The club had a loan agreement with InterBrew of £3,779 but when the contract was ended by the club, InterBrew demanded the full payment up front.
It threatened the club's survival, but Durham Labour MP Hilary Armstrong stepped in and acted as mediator.
A monthly payment scheme has now been set up and for every keg of 36 gallons - 288 pints - sold, the club will have £70 slashed off the bill.