JLN Supports Kangaroos 24hr Football Challenge

On Friday 24th June we were thrilled to take part in the Kangaroos Sussex charity football match at the K2 in Crawley, joining many teams from across Sussex to play with the Thomas Bennett Community College Football Academy and completing a marathon 24 hour football challenge to raise funds for children with learning disabilities.

Joining our in-house footballers, Jonathan Lea and Callum Ritchie, were Jamie Howell, Frankie Shinn and Luke Canneaux (friends and players from Hove FC football team) as well as More Radio’s Sarge Hussain, plus two players from the Thomas Bennett Academy to take our team up to 8.

The competition was fierce and they threw everything at us, including putting their two coaches on their team once we went 1-0 up. Sarge, now fondly known as Sargehino, scored for us and we went on to win with a staggering 4-1 lead!

It would be remiss to mention that our slot was at the very end of their 24 hour challenge and none of the other side had slept at all!

Callum said “It was a fantastic occasion to raise money for Kangaroos and everyone who played the game really enjoyed it. It was also great to see Jonathan finally step foot in The Jonathan Lea Network sponsored Hove FC kit, although a call up to the Hove FC team might well be some way off.”

Very proud of our boys, and of everyone that took part in the day. Kangaroos Sussex champion enabling people with learning disabilities to exercise their right to leisure, play and recreational activity in a safe and supported environment where all members are treated as individuals. An excellent and worthwhile cause, which we were delighted to help raise funds for.

The organisers at the Thomas Bennett Community College and Kangaroos charity have given the following press release:

‘The Thomas Bennett Community College Football Foundation with Chelsea FC successfully completed their 24-hour football challenge and raised over £14,300 so far for Kangaroos.

Over 100 students, headed by Chris Jones, Academy director and owner of Coach Educate Ltd played back to back football matches for over 24 hours at K2 Crawley, who kindly allowed TBCCFA use of their pitches for the duration of the challenge. The Foundation students invited local businesses to play against them for a donation to Kangaroos, and gained sponsorship from family and friends too. The atmosphere was electric as the students took on teams from all over the county, with ages ranging from 7 to 79!

“I’m so pleased we completed the 24 hour football challenge and have raised over £14,300 so far for Kangaroos. This is an experience I won’t forget and I’m so glad I got to do it with the rest of the TBCCFA team.” – Nathan Pickery, TBCCFA Student

Kangaroos is a Sussex based charity that provides activity clubs, days out and residential trips for children and adults with learning disabilities. All funds raised from the event will benefit the people who use their services.

“We are blown away with the amount of money that the students have raised. It was a massive effort from so many young people in the Crawley community. We feel very proud of all of them. The money they have raised will enable Kangaroos to supply sensory equipment for our activity sessions that can be enjoyed by all who attend our clubs and cover the cost of at least 12 of our members with complex needs to enjoy a 3 day residential trip. This is no small achievement. Well done to everyone!”  – Zoe Pizzie, Chief Operating Officer at Kangaroos.

By the final few hours, emotions and tiredness levels were running high. The students were joined on the pitch by the Kangaroos staff team and some young people that use Kangaroos services for a fantastic game of football, ending 24 Kangaroos – 4 TBCCFA.

Chris, Clare and the Kangaroos team are greatly appreciative to everyone who came together to make this event possible.

“My wife, Clare and I started planning this event last year and we were hoping to raise lots of money, but never thought this much would be possible. The whole 24 hours was so much fun for everyone who was involved and helped. We would both like to thank everyone who helped in some way, there are so many people we feel indebted to that made everything run smoothly, huge thank you to everyone.” – Chris Jones, Academy Director at Thomas Bennett Community College with Chelsea Foundation FC.

If you would like to make a contribution to the Just Giving page the link is https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/kangaroos24hrfootball