“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 (42):

1. Collin Adeng Ndi

2. Keenan Appiah-Forson

3. Adam Barrett

4. Jon Benton

5. Macauley Bonne

6. Jack Bridge

7. Leon Chambers-Parillon

8. Tom Clifford

9. Ben Coker

10. Oli Coker

11. Sinon Cox

12. Adam Crowther

13. Jason Demetriou

14. Lewis Gard

15. James Golding

16. Ben Goodliffe

17. Joe Gubbins

18. Sam Hart

19. Nick Hayes

20. Ricky Holmes

21. Tom Hopper

22. Noor Husin

23. Jake Hyde

24. Charley Kendall

25. Harry Kyprianou

26. Ryan Leonard

27. David Martin

28. Cav Miley

29. James Morton

30. Rhys Murphy

31. Luke O’Neill

32. Nathan Ralph

33. Matt Rush

34. Gus Scott-Morriss

35. Harry Taylor

36. Mauro Vilhete

37. Danny Waldron

38. Josh Walker

39. John White

40. George Wind

41. Jack Wood

42. Anthony Wordsworth

Players still to meet:-

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. Jermaine McGlashan

62. Stephen McLaughlin

63. Sam McQueen

64. Jacob Mellis

65. Mark Milligan

66. Miles Mitchell-Nelson

67. George Moncur

68. Dan Mooney

69. David Mooney

70. Taylor Moore

71. Franck Moussa

72. Ashley Nathaniel-George

73. Layton Ndukwu

74. Harrison Neal

75. Frank Nouble

76. Abu Ogogo

77. James Olayinka

78. Mark Oxley

79. Jack Payne

80. Aribim Pepple

81. Harry Phillips

82. Joe Pigott

83. Callum Powell

84. Luke Prosser

85. Nile Ranger

86. Glen Rea

87. Theo Robinson

88. Henry Sandat

89. Joe Shaughnessy

90. Ted Smith

91. Jakub Sokolik

92. David Stockdale

93. Callum Taylor

94. Richard Taylor

95. Adam Thompson

96. Michael Timlin

97. Norman Wabo

98. Louis Walsh

99. Christian Walton

100. Myles Weston

101. Jason Williams

102. Deon Woodman

103. David Worrall

104. Chris Wreh

105. Josh Wright

106. Dru Yearwood

 

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

Players met:

Ben Amos

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