FC United football fans faced ex-Salford City players at the Salford Sports village on Friday 10th December to raise money for the FC United food hub.
Joseph Winskill, the kit man at FC United participated in the 11-side match and he is the organiser of the go fund me for the charity. So far they have raised over £600.
The players made cash donations as five-pound cash donations were made to play. Local business, Pheonix Flooring Manchester, was also one of the sponsors supporting the cause.
He said: “At the start of the pandemic when we first went into lockdown the club realised how much a deprived area it was, so Vinny Thomas went to the board and asked if he could start a food bank at FC United under the stands and it grew massively.
“He helps local families and a couple of other charities and food banks in the area.
“It wasn’t even supposed to be a charity thing. One of their ex-players put something in the FC United group just asking if anybody wanted a game, When I volunteered to play I got put in contact with a bloke called Mike Sands.
“I asked if it could be turned into a charitable event and Mike asked Vinny Thomas and he gave it the ok.
“I stopped counting the score is a lot more even we stop counting when it was about 8. I know it seems like a poor excuse considering they all stopped playing before the 2010s, but they’re all really great players.
“Their player Baz Massey just took the mickey out of us halfway through the game. I don’t know why we thought we could win but we at least thought we could get at least one or two.”
Salford veteran team in red: Jos Baker. Daz Bates, Paul Varley, Matty Malcolm, Mike Sands, David Berret, Glyn Billington, Martin Everett, Baz Brown, Andy Diggle, Luke Mack, Scott Weir, Dj Horan, Simon Peers, Baz Massey.
Football fans in blue: Joseph Winskill, Sam Riley, Connor Wilson, Steve Wilson, Wes Ellison, Lee Dillion, Dave, Josh Rowlands, Max Rowlands, Steve Chadwick, Ryan Clayton, Joe Dickinson, William Kershaw, Luis Hopkins.
The clubs, in general, have tension between them but overall it was a friendly match.
“People who have joined the food hub have said that they really enjoyed and it has helped them through the pandemic as well because they are still able to help to socialise with other people while doing something for the community.”
Joseph believes more clubs should do more for the community especially during the pandemic. It comes after the Premier league reject plans to support a homeless charity called Shelter proposed for December 26 and 27.
He said: “Especially when the players earn so much money and I know a few clubs gave a bit of money here and there, but as soon as they’ve got to the transfer window they drop in fifty, seventy million on players. And what they have donated, in reality, is pennies to them.
“I feel like the football clubs should be doing more especially the premier league clubs should do more to help their local communities as well, I know Crystal Place and Chelsea have set up homeless shelters.”
Concerns of another lockdown, this Christmas, has been speculating after Boris Johnson released Plan B measures over the Omicron variant. Joseph does not believe there will be another lockdown but believes that ‘every smaller club will struggle’ especially with a lack of media attention.
He commented: “If we were forced to play through the play we would be losing money every week.”
The match has not been confirmed yet but Winskill has said they need to count the donations but the fans are looking ford to the rematch with the Salford team.
The next match has not been confirmed yet but Winskill has said they need to count the donations but the fans are looking ford to the rematch with the Salford team. Joseph said they need to count the money raised before they can make this plan.
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