TackleAfrica Jersey Football Marathon – 8th June 2019 – Raises £18,000

On 8th June 2019, TackleAfrica held their 8th Football Marathon in Jersey, raising a staggering £18,000 for the charity, taking the overall total for the event over £120,000 raised in Jersey.

Played at the Airport Playing fields in St. Brelade in mixed weather, 11 teams kicked off at 8am and proceeded to play 23 games of 6-a-side football with the final whistle going at 8pm.

In summary:

• 11 teams, 88 Island footballers
• 127 games of 6-a-side football were played
• 772 goals scored with a crowd-pleasing average of 6 per game
• Top fundraisers were Fatzio raising £2,598
• The tournament was won by Team Kante following a penalty shootout
• Top scorers were Puyol with scoring 93 goals over the course of the day
• Congratulations also need to go to Ross Davison and Samual Dustow, each completing their 10^thFootball Marathon, each earning a much coveted “Veterans” shirt.

All funds raised will be going to support TackleAfrica projects in sub-Saharan and West Africa.

It costs ~£1,500 for TackleAfrica to fully train and support a coach in Africa for a year, who each work with about 1,000 young adults.  The money goes a long way in Africa supporting young people at risk of HIV, FGM and related sexual health issues.

TackleAfrica would like to thank all those who played, sponsored or in any way contributed to this year’s football marathon, including: 

• The Jersey Football Marathon Organising Committee
• Jersey Sport - venues, kit hire and support
• Les Quennevais Sports Centre and their amazing grounds crew!
• St. John's Ambulance - health and safety
• Isabella Crowley and Tony Bryant - Physios
• Jersey Football Combination
• Jersey FA
• Europcar - logistics
• Jersey Youth Arts - Music
• DJ Nelson - AV / PA kit
• C5 Alliance – Technology needed to run the event

Local organiser, John Gamble, said: “It was a great day.  The weather had us nervous at first but by late morning the sun was out and goals were flying in.  The new venue worked really well and tournament was played in fabulous spirt.  The Jersey Football Community has now raised just over £120,000 for the work of TackleAfrica – we’re very proud of them and they need to take a bow.  See you in 2020!”