Glasgow man walking to every Scottish football ground for charity
Every Scottish football fan wants to visit every single one of the 42 stadiums in the country, but Chris Sayle wants to do it the hard way. The Coatbridge man aims to walk to all of the SPFL grounds in 15 days. He has set himself the challenge to raise money for two different charities – the Beatson Cancer Centre and the Ronald McDonald House.
Chris will set off on his epic journey on May 28 2018 in Dingwall, home of Ross County. The ‘Boots and Balls’ charity walk will then work its way across the length and breadth of Scotland to visit all of Scottish football’s clubs and their homes, covering a whopping 865 miles as they go.
The trek will finish at his hometown in Coatbridge and his local team’s stadium, Cliftonhill, home to Scottish League One side Albion Rovers. He will stop off along the way at each ground for an opportunity of a photograph to add to his memories of the hike.
Chris says he has had a great reaction from people who have heard about the challenge: “The initial response from the majority of people is that we are absolutely insane and the more people speak about it then the more people are becoming adapted to the actual challenge.”
He says has always wanted to do the challenge: “It was an idea I came up with a couple of years ago and it wasn’t until I found someone as insane as me to actually do the walk with me that we could put things into action.”
That ‘insane’ person is Chris’s friend Siobhan Cunning and the two have gone through some intense training to get themselves ready for the challenge: “We’ve been going for very long walks by going to the gym, personal one-to-one training and we’ve also been getting our bodies in shape nutritionally for such a big challenge.”
Chris has set an ambitious fundraising target of £5000 and hopes to achieve that for two charities he holds close to him: “Both of these charities will affect the majority of people from any age range across the whole of Scotland. Ideally, we would love to get both charities somewhere along the lines of £5000, but the most money we can make the better.
“At this moment in time we are sitting at just shy of £2000 between our moneygiving page and donations people have given us in cash as well.”
To raise funds, Chris and Siobhan are holding several fundraising events in pubs in Coatbridge and Airdrie and have received support from several local businesses who have either donated money or have supplied equipment to the pair to support them on their journey. Donations have included shoes, socks and even a tailor-made trailer for both Chris and Siobhan to live in as they travel the country.
Chris has set up a Virgin moneygiving page to accept donations which can be accessed through the Boots and Balls Facebook page.
