£175k Raised – The Football Marathons 2021 : The Review

As we reflect on the Football Marathons of 2021, it is difficult to look back on the last 18 months and not be overwhelmed by the support TackleAfrica has received this year in what are still, uncertain times. With 4 events in 5 weeks it was certainly a full throttle summer.

We congratulate three first time winners, one of our longest serving teams win a record breaking fourth Football Marathon, we witnessed the highest EVER total raised (beating the record set last year by over £2k) and launched in a brand new city!

Also, for the first time ever, we introduced HIV testing to our London and Brighton events. Our partners African Advocacy tested over 100 people. The average number of participants who get tests at events in the UK is normally 10%, with ours being closer to 25% we were delighted our players got involved to find out their status.

The £175,000 you raised will go towards running up to 8 programmes for a whole year reaching thousands of coaches and players

Our partnership with Your Instant Replay saw us live stream our events for the full 12 hours for the first time, it was a long slog but we have now captured some comedy gold we can replay for years to come!

It was by no means a beautiful year weather wise but we got through it, although it did mean adapting at Brighton, Jersey and a very wet inaugural Oxford Football Marathon. In the end, we did it. Bodies and pride broken, but whether you are a donor, volunteer or a player you have all played a huge part this year and we want to thank you for helping us raise an epic £175,000 over our 4 events in London, Brighton, Jersey and Oxford.

What you have funded

TackleAfrica use football as a tool to educate young people in Africa about HIV, sexual health and sexual rights and we have found that it has a huge impact on those people we reach (20,000 this year). It has taken us 20 years to come this far and year after year we refine our skills, increase our knowledge and leave a bigger footprint – without your help we could not do this!

London Football Marathon 2021

It began in London on a particularly windy 24^th July where we raised an impressive £75,000, split between 32 teams. Internet Milan raised the most with a stunning £5,458…Big shout out to their captain Paolo De Melo and also to Google who again matched their total this year. The final was contested between our veterans Raspberry Dave (Captained by Andy Goodwin) and The Baboon Lagoon (Captained by Robin McMichael) with Raspberry Dave breaking records with their 4th Football Marathon win under tense circumstances in a 2-1 final. Your Instant Replay London Football Marathon Live Stream Here

Brighton Football Marathon 2021 (Highest ever fundraisers, George Warren and Generation Press)

A week later it was Brighton’s turn – with the help of 28 teams and a total of 224 players we managed to raise over £71,000. The highest fundraisers Generation Press (Captained by George Warren AKA TA Hero 2021) raised a breath taking £10,992.

After a 5 year hiatus, Brighton Dogs (Captained by Athol Ruston) came back to lay the foundations for their Football Marathon legacy beating Paris Ganjaman (Captained by James Hubbard) 2-1 in an epic end to end battle. They only lost one game all day winning 16 and scoring a whopping 67 goals along the way. Your Instant Replay Brighton Football Marathon Live Stream Here

Local Labour MP Lloyd Russell-Moyle with Clinton Morrison and TA Staff during the Brighton FM

Clinton Morrison was back this year too, appearing in London and, for the first time, in Brighton too. He is firmly cementing his place in Football Marathon history although he couldn’t stop a certain Geordie superstar from scoring a hat trick against him as Clinton looked for answers in goal for Whoops Re-United. An honourable mention here to Mark Gardener too who captained Whoops. They raised a grand total of £7,581, Mark has gone out of his way to create his own TackleAfrica golf day to raise money for us in Portsmouth.

Jersey Football Marathon 2021 – Mugabe Haifa and their captain Glenn Le Moignan who appeared in his 10th FM.

Then it was over to Jersey for the third FM in three weeks (Hats off to Harry Magee who decided to play in all of them this year. Rumour has it that he still has the TackleAfrica FM cowboy walk as a consequence of this decision). It was sunny and wet, windy and snowy, and also dry. We ran out of seasons! But it all added to a spectacular day for our beloved Channel Island event. The final was played out in a very competitive fashion as Nontes For Africa (Captained by Joe Brophy) beat serial FM winners Gylfi’s Wet Bream (Captained by Sam Dustow and Ross Davison) 2-0. Fatzio, as we are now accustomed won the fundraising with an excellent £3,177 to contribute to the Jersey total of £17,083

Oxford Football Marathon 2021 – Scotland Get Battered celebrating their win to cap off the summer of FM’s

Two weeks later we were delighted to host our first ever Oxford Football Marathon. With 9 teams competing we raised a huge £13,560 beating our record for most raised by a start up….that’s the way we roll back in The Shire! The rain hammered down all day as we cut up the generously donated pitches at Ducklington Football Club but in the end we had a winner…In the final Scotland Get Battered (Captained by Jack White) not stopping at just Scotland, battered 3 times London winners Va Va Voom (Captined by Joe Wood) 4-1 to take the crown (World Cup Trophy) home. At least Va Va Voom did have their priorities in the right order as they set, what might be a highest fundraising total for Oxford for years to come, £4,680. Your Instant Replay Oxford Football Marathon Live Stream Here

An epic year, with lots of memories made, so we want to thank everyone who helped out with our events from London, Brighton, Jersey and Oxford – the Councils, security, committees, medical teams, all the volunteers, Your Instant Replay, the glorious, glorious physios and masseurs who made the day so much easier. African Advocacy for allowing us to show how we test for HIV at our tournaments across our events in Sub Saharan Africa.

African Advocacy testing for HIV at our Football Marathons

Also we want to pay tribute to our sponsors across the four events, so raise your glasses to: Cognition, Gilead, Genting Casino, Lost Boys Chicken, Footy Addicts, Ford Plumbing and Heating, Red Lion Smokehouse.

Highlights of the Brighton Final 2021 – Brighton Dogs Vs Paris Ganjaman

Finally we must not forget the role that 102 people in particular played this year, the most important role that anyone plays – they bring teams, organise teams, organise fundraising – for some it’s relatively easy, for others this can be hard work – we want you to know how much your work means to us – you are the most vital cog in the Football Marathon Machine, therefore a special mention to the Football Marathon Captains of 2021: