The 8th annual football marathon had everything expected and more:
613 games of football
1127 goals
396 players
19 pitches
4 broken bones
2 ambulances
792 blackened toenails
And
Over £110,000 raised to support TackleAfrica’s work in Ghana, Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Zambia and South Africa.
As always, players travelled from across the country for the 8.30am kickoff, with residents of Sheffield, Cardiff, Bournemouth and the Isle of Man represented, and eventual champions Gilmore’s Galacticos making the long trip from Nottingham to collect the trophy.
In total the last 5 TackleAfrica football marathons have raised over a quarter of a million pounds, a fantastic achievement that has allowed us to work with tens of thousands of young Africans and train thousands of coaches, teachers and youth educators.
We are incredibly grateful to all of the hard work, commitment, fair play and good spirit that went into the event from all of the players, organisers and volunteers. This was without doubt the best football marathon yet.
We want to make Football Marathon 2010 even bigger and better, and be the next step in our aim to have raised £1,000,000 by 2015. To register your early interest, give feedback or pass on useful contacts, contact Tom@tackleafrica.org
For a full photo gallery, visit http://66.7.204.144/~tmphotoc/football_marathon/
Congratulations to:
Winners: Gilmore’s Galacticos
Runners up: South Star
3rd Place: Real Madras
Paul Fitzsimmons Wooden Spoon: Empiric
Top fundraisers (so far) and recipients of the Lee Dixon coaching masterclass: 24 Ballers
Enormous thanks to:
The Football Marathon organising committee – Gavin ‘Stunt driver’ Atkins, Tom ‘Half-hearted’ Colborne, Tim ‘Spreadsheet’ Dawes, Stephen ’Tardy’ Findlay, Charlie ‘Goalpost’ Gamble, Neil ‘That’s why you’re secretary’ Peters and Richard ‘Please can you write us an unbelievably complicated fixtures algorithm’ Silverton.
All 49 team captains
Volunteers: Stephanie ‘Kelso’ Kelsey, Beth Davidson, Kate Gamble, Ben Carpenter, Will Bancroft, Paul ‘Wooden Spoon’ Fitzsimmons, Big Nick Miles, Damian: Lobb, Kate Weller, Dom “Mansfo” Mansfield, Robert Gamble, Tom Miles.
Medical team: Dr. “Princess” Hannah Richardson, Dr. Niki “Wheal of Fortune” Wheal, Dr. Emily “Went to Gloucester” Foster, Owen Harris, Ruth Ashton, Dalvir Sidhu
Corporate Supporters: Robinson Healthcare and The Mentholatum Company for free healthcare supplies, Science in Sport for free sports drinks, Matchwinner for discounted t-shirts and Samba Goals for discounted goalposts.
Celebrity coach: Lee Dixon
Organisational partners: Goal Ghana http://www.goalghana.org/ , Football Africa http://www.footballafrica.org.uk
View the final 2009 fundraising league table here
You can view the TackleAfrica Hall of Fame here.
