For a lot of MAN v FAT gamers, stepping out onto the pitch after becoming a member of the programme is the primary time in a few years that they’ve kicked a ball.
However, after pulling on the boots once more, the lads usually get the urge for food to play extra soccer as their health grows.
Our MAN v FAT St Helens gamers are taking this to the intense, with an upcoming fundraising occasion in August, the place they’ll play for twenty-four hours to boost funds for the Sean’s Place charity.
Sean’s Place is a males’s psychological well being charity that goals to enhance males’s psychological well being and well-being throughout Merseyside, by way of assist particularly recognized to enhance confidence and vanity for males while lowering despair, stress and anxiousness and suicidal ideas.
Debbie Rogers, CEO and Founder, stated: “Large thanks to everybody at MAN v FAT for selecting Sean’s Place to assist. To have so many males selecting to participate to boost consciousness of psychological well being for different males and fundraise to assist our service is unbelievable.
“That is how we really save lives collectively. Perfect of luck to everybody participating, and thanks on behalf of all of us at Sean’s Place!”
To search out out extra concerning the occasion, we caught up with the blokes behind the occasion in St Helens, to learn the way it took place.
1) Inform us how the thought for the fundraising sport took place?
The concept took place when one in every of our lads, who’d simply returned from harm, was desirous to play, however we didn’t have sufficient folks obtainable that night. He was going to overlook the subsequent session too, so it felt like we’d hit a little bit of a soccer drought. Somebody joked, “I might play for twenty-four hours straight,” simply to make up for the dearth of video games. That joke shortly become a critical dialogue, and we thought, why not?
A 24-hour match could possibly be an ideal strategy to convey everybody collectively, get lively once more, and lift cash for a very good trigger. We put out a ballot to see if others had been on board, and the response was overwhelmingly optimistic. It was clear this wasn’t only a one-off concept—it was one thing everybody wished to get behind. And from there, issues snowballed quick, with native venues and sponsors leaping in to assist make it occur.
2) The St Helens membership has constructed a unbelievable neighborhood within the final couple of years – how have the lads acquired behind this and different neighborhood primarily based concepts?
The St Helens lads are fiercely aggressive, however what actually stands out is how welcoming and supportive we’re as a gaggle. We push one another to be higher, whether or not that’s on the pitch or in supporting native causes. We’ve all the time acquired one another’s backs, and it’s that unity that makes us stronger.
As a membership, we’ve raised over £6,000 for numerous charities and native causes, together with fundraising for Oddballs and Muscular Dystrophy UK. We’ve finished a lot of charity drives and all the time ensure that to rally across the neighborhood when wanted. Whether or not it’s a staff member operating an occasion or us collectively pitching in for a very good trigger, we’re all the time able to step up and assist the place we are able to.
3) How did the membership come to decide on the trigger?
As a gaggle, everyone knows how necessary bodily well being is—that’s why we joined MANvFAT within the first place. However psychological well being is simply as very important, and sometimes doesn’t get the eye it deserves. We felt it was necessary to assist a trigger that tackles that aspect of issues head-on. Once we appeared into choices, Sean’s Place actually stood out.
Their work is about eradicating limitations and offering instant, non-judgemental assist to males throughout Merseyside—serving to to cut back isolation, anxiousness, and despair. After listening to their story and the way the trigger was arrange in reminiscence of Sean, it struck a chord with quite a lot of us. Selecting them was a simple resolution.
4) What excites you most concerning the occasion and what do you assume would be the greatest challenges?
Firstly, what excites us most is the possibility to do one thing actual to assist Sean’s Place. If this occasion helps increase consciousness, begins conversations, or makes a tangible distinction to even one particular person, it’ll be price each aching muscle. Figuring out that we’re backing a trigger that gives instant, life-changing assist to males who’re struggling—that’s the actual driver for us.
On prime of that, there’s the thrill of seeing the neighborhood rally collectively, particularly in these robust night time hours when vitality’s low and staff spirit carries you thru. The largest problem can be conserving everybody going for the complete 24 hours—however with the trigger we’re taking part in for, we’ll discover a strategy to dig deep.
