“A Football Odyssey”

In November 2024, Ethan and I undertook a challenge to use our love of football to raise awareness of our own charity plus also the national charity, Cardiac Risk In The Young (CRY)

We want to make as many people around the country aware of the free ECG screenings that are available to young people (aged 14-35) to help detect undiagnosed heart conditions.

Our ‘football odyssey’ consists of 4 main challenges:-

1. To watch a game at every one of the 92 League stadiums – so far we have visited 15 (listed below)
2. To grab a charity photo with every Southend United player we’ve seen play at Roots Hall since we started going as season card holders in 2015 – so far we’ve met 42 of 149 (listed below)
3. To grab a charity photo with every Manchester United player managed by Sir Alex Ferguson between 1986-2013 – so far we’ve met 2 of 216 (listed below)
4. To follow as many of the non-league teams in Essex (we’ve selected 28) to hopefully include them in our plans to raise awareness of the free heart screenings available locally

Naturally, we’re not just restricting ourselves to these 4 challenges.  We are more than happy to meet anyone, or involve any club, from the football community who may be able to help raise awareness of Sudden Arrhythmic Death Syndrome (SADS) and the free heart checks available

 

1. “Doing The 92”

Grounds visited so far:-

1. Brentford

2. Cambridge

3. Charlton

4. Colchester United

5. Crystal Palace

6. Gillingham

7. Ipswich

8. Manchester United

9. Millwall

10. MK Dons

11. Northampton

12. Norwich

13. Port Vale

14. QPR

15. West Ham

 

2. Meeting current/former Southend United players

Players met (48):-

1. Collin Adeng Ndi

2. Keenan Appiah-Forson

3. Sam Austin

4. Adam Barrett

5. Jon Benton

6. Macauley Bonne

7. Harry Boyes

8. Jack Bridge

9. Leon Chambers-Parillon

10. Tom Clifford

11. Ben Coker

12. Oli Coker

13. Simon Cox

14. Jaden Crowhurst

15. Adam Crowther

16. Andrew Dallas

17. Jason Demetriou

18. Lewis Gard

19. Ashley Nathaniel-George

20. James Golding

21. Ben Goodliffe

22. Joe Gubbins

23. Sam Hart

24. Nick Hayes

25. Ricky Holmes

26. Tom Hopper

27. Noor Husin

28. Jake Hyde

29. Charley Kendall

30. Harry Kyprianou

31. Ryan Leonard

32. David Martin

33. Jermaine McGlashan

34. Cav Miley

35. James Morton

36. Rhys Murphy

37. Luke O’Neill

38. Nathan Ralph

39. Matt Rush

40. Gus Scott-Morriss

41. Harry Taylor

42. Mauro Vilhete

43. Danny Waldron

44. Josh Walker

45. John White

46. George Wind

47. Jack Wood

48. Anthony Wordsworth

 

Players still to meet (104):-

1. Emile Acquah

2. Simeon Akinola

3. Luke Amos

4. Steve Arnold

5. Will Atkinson

6. Amadou Ba

7. Tyrone Barnett

8. Sam Barratt

9. Dan Bentley

10. Nathan Bishop

11. Andre Blackman

12. Cian Bolger

13. Harry Bunn

14. Elvis Bwomono

15. Harry Cardwell

16. Kenny Clark

17. Aaron Cosgrove

18. Josh Coulson

19. Sam Dalby

20. Leon Davies

21. Gary Deegan

22. Matthew Dennis

23. Timothee Dieng

24. James Dunne

25. Terrell Egbri

26. Anton Ferdinand

27. Nathan Ferguson

28. Wesley Fonguck

29. Marc Antoine Fortune

30. Brandon Goodship

31. Patrik Gunnarson

32. Greg Halford

33. Ethan Hamilton

34. Shayon Harrison

35. Stephen Hendrie

36. Zavon Hines

37. Shaun Hobson

38. Rob Howard

39. Stephen Humphrys

40. Noel Hunt

41. Kevan Hurst

42. Isaac Hutchinson

43. Luke Hyams

44. Ryan Inniss

45. Zach Jeacock

46. Glen Kamara

47. Charlie Kelman

48. Ollie Kensdale

49. Rob Kiernan

50. Michael Kightly

51. Adam King

52. Michae Klass

53. Freddie Ladapo

54. Harry Lennon

55. Louis Lomas

56. Jamar Loza

57. Piotr Malarczyk

58. Sam Mantom

59. Alan McCormack

60. Shawn McCoulsky

61. Stephen McLaughlin

62. Sam McQueen

63. Jacob Mellis

64. Mark Milligan

65. Miles Mitchell-Nelson

66. George Moncur

67. Dan Mooney

68. David Mooney

69. Taylor Moore

70. Franck Moussa

71. Layton Ndukwu

72. Harrison Neal

73. Frank Nouble

74. Abu Ogogo

75. James Olayinka

76. Mark Oxley

77. Jack Payne

78. Aribim Pepple

79. Harry Phillips

80. Joe Pigott

81. Callum Powell

82. Luke Prosser

83. Nile Ranger

84. Glen Rea

85. Theo Robinson

86. Henry Sandat

87. Joe Shaughnessy

88. Ted Smith

89. Jakub Sokolik

90. David Stockdale

91. Callum Taylor

92. Richard Taylor

93. Adam Thompson

94. Michael Timlin

95. Norman Wabo

96. Louis Walsh

97. Christian Walton

98. Myles Weston

99. Jason Williams

100. Deon Woodman

101. David Worrall

102. Chris Wreh

103. Josh Wright

104. Dru Yearwood

 

3. Meeting ex-Manchester United players who were managed by Sir Alex Ferguson

Players met:

1. Ben Amos
2. Lee Martin

 

 

4. Non-League Essex Teams

These are the 28 clubs in Essex we will be following in season 2025-26, hoping to involve as many as possible in raising awareness of the heart screenings available to local young people

Southend United
Braintree Town
Chelmsford City
Billericay Town
Bowers & Pitsea
Canvey Island
Hashtag United
Basildon United
Brentwood Town
Brightlingsea Regent
Concord Rangers
Grays Athletic
Heybridge Swifts
Maldon & Tiptree
Tilbury
Waltham Abbey
Witham Town
Benfleet
Great Wakering Rovers
Halstead Town
Hullbridge Sports
Little Oakley
Saffron Waldon Town
Stanway Rovers
Takeley
White Ensign
Harlow Town
Aveley

 

If you are involved with any club in the Football League that we’ve not yet visited, you know of any of the Southend/Manchester United players we’re looking to meet or you are involved with any of the non-league teams in Essex we’ve listed, and you think you can help add to our “Football Odyssey”, please email info@carlilansleyfoundation.org.uk