Soccer-Extremadura donate part of gate receipts to stricken Recreativo

By Richard Martin BARCELONA, Jan 24 (Reuters) - Cash-strapped Recreativo Huelva, the first soccer club founded in Spain, have been given a financial boost by next Sunday's opponents Extremadura UD who have offered to donate half of the gate receipts from away tickets to their rivals. The game has huge ramifications in the battle to avoid relegation from Group 4 of Second Division B, Spain's third tier, with Recreativo 17th and four points ahead of Extremadura in 19th, but has taken on a new meaning after the announcement. "We are proud and honoured to host Recreativo and we're aware they're in a bad situation so we wanted to show solidarity with them because they started everything to do with football in Spain," Extremadura president Manuel Franganillo said on Tuesday. The announcement was gratefully received by Recreativo, who tweeted: "One million thanks to our friends at Extremadura. We're left speechless." Recreativo, founded by British and Spanish workers of the Rio Tinto mines in Huelva in 1889, have been in deep financial trouble since they were relegated to the Second Division B in 2015. They were on the verge of administrative relegation to the Third Division last summer because of unpaid wages to players which would have effectively resulted in the club being dissolved, but raised the funds to meet their obligations via a supporters' trust. (Editing by Clare Fallon)