Supporters club together for Cancer Deadline Day
Monday 1st February is Cancer Deadline Day, a vital new fixture on the football calendar as the sport joins forces to raise vital funds for a consortium of eight cancer charities.
Transfer Deadline Day is one of the biggest days of the year for football fans and the British media.
It is a day like no other as clubs throughout the country spend millions of pounds on signing new players before the transfer window closes for several months.
This transfer window, Cancer Deadline Day is calling on all fans, players, clubs and legends of the game to help give cancer the boot – by making a donation to help charities fighting the disease.
Football fan bases will compete to get their club to the top of the table by raising the most amount of money by the end of deadline day on 1 February. To make a donation, users will land on a club-specific donation page, powered by JustGiving, and select any amount.
A consortium of eight cancer charities who have registered with Cancer Deadline Day will all receive an equal split of the money raised. The eight charities are: Breast Cancer Now, Clic Sargent, Macmillan Cancer Support, Pancreatic Cancer UK, Prostate Cancer UK, The Ruth Strauss Foundation, Sir Bobby Robson Foundation and Teenage Cancer Trust.
More than 50 football clubs from the Premier League, WSL, Scottish Premier League and English Football League have signed up in support of the campaign and celebrity supporters include Sir Rod Stewart, Alan Shearer, Michael Owen and Jeff Stelling.
Karina Murtagh, CEO of The Ruth Strauss Foundation, said: "Openly talking about death and dying is never easy, especially when it’s a parent having to tell their child that they do not have much longer to live. Covid-19 has brought the subject of ‘death' to all our homes, and many families have had to face grief and death. The Ruth Strauss Foundation believes that every family with a child facing the death of a parent from cancer should be offered professional emotional support, to enable them to manage grief together and emotionally prepare for the future.
"By making a transfer for cancer today, you can help support families facing one of life’s toughest tests."