Jeff Stelling - Men United

On Good Friday I was delighted to meet, and treat, Soccer Saturday Sky Sports icon Jeff Stelling and his Hartlepool United chief executive counterpart Russ Green. They had just completed day five of their epic 262 mile, 10 day walk, from Hartlepool to Wembley Stadium. Jeff and Russ are undertaking this ambitious challenge to help promote prostate cancer awareness and were joined on the day by amongst others, former Arsenal star Paul Merson and Forest legends John McGovern and Archie Gemmill.

Jeff, who has presented Soccer Saturday for almost 20 years and has previously run marathons and climbed Kilimanjaro for other good causes, said, "It's been uplifting the way football has embraced this event. We’ve targeted football clubs in particular, because whilst prostate cancer obviously has a devastating effect on whole families, it’s the men who are physically affected. We want the people who sit in football stadiums now, to still be there in 15 years' time, by persuading them that there's nothing wrong with going to see your GP, even if it is for something below the waist!”

By the time they arrived at Meadow Lane late on Friday, they were understandably shattered, but their spirits, no doubt lifted by the knowledge that their beloved Hartlepool had won earlier in the day, were still high. With only 12 hours to recover before the start of the sixth leg of their journey, Jeff and Russ were happy to take the weight off their feet for a brief period while I did my best to relieve the tension from their tired legs and County Doc, Dean Chatterjee, treated their worn-out, blistered feet. Talking to the media a little later, Jeff said, “Getting out of bed over the last four nights to go to the bathroom, I've almost been on my hands and knees, but thankfully I've had a lot of help from club physios along the way” (Err, and club Osteopaths Jeff :-)).

Please, please, please show your appreciation for the work Jeff and Russ are doing and make a donation to this great cause.