A group of football fans have raised £100,000 for the Sick Kids Friends Foundation by taking part in the world’s longest football match.
The team behind the Craig Gowans Memorial Fund Football Match played for 105 hours at Ainslie Park in Edinburgh earlier this month in memory of the late Falkirk defender Craig Gowans, who tragically died 10 years ago in a training ground accident.
Originally the group hoped to raise £37,000 for the charity, due to Craig having being assigned the number 37 shirt at Falkirk, but donations have continued to pour in since the end of the match, which finished 774 – 707, and the final total is expected to be around the £100,000 mark.
The two teams made up of squads of 18 players played continuously, cheered on by family and friends as well as footballers and managers including Alex McLeish, John Hughes, Scott Arfield and Thomas Scobbie.
They have now become official Guinness World Record Holders, smashing the record for the Longest Marathon Playing Football.
We’re over the moon to have been officially granted Guinness World Record Holder status - the football match itself was an epic challenge
Money raised will be used by the Sick Kids Friends Foundation to fund enhancements to the new Sick Kids hospital at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh at Little France, specifically a state-of-the-art Snoezelen room in 17 year old Craig’s name.
He died when a 20ft long pole for nets he was carrying touched power lines.
The space will be a calming room with multi-sensory equipment providing a relaxing and stimulating space for children with sensory impairments.
Dario Alonzi, a member of the Craig Gowans Memorial Fund organising committee, said: “We’re over the moon to have been officially granted Guinness World Record Holder status - the football match itself was an epic challenge and one that pushed us all to the very limit.
“To come away from the experience with official recognition of our efforts in the form of a World Record, as well as putting Craig’s name in the history books and raising £100,000 to gift to the Sick Kids Friends Foundation, is just priceless.
“Again I would like to thank absolutely everyone who played a part in making this match possible, as well as everyone who has donated so generously.”
Roslyn Neely, chief executive of the Sick Kids Friends Foundation, added: “We have been blown away by the funds raised by the Craig Gowans Memorial Fund Football Match. The heroic lengths they have gone to in order to raise this money is something that will never be forgotten.
“Congratulations to the entire team, I’m absolutely delighted to hear that they have become official Guinness World Record Holders – and deservedly so.
“The money they have raised will help us transform the experience of the young people who visit Edinburgh’s new children’s hospital when it opens its doors in 2017.”
To make a donation visit the Craig Gowans Memorial Fund Football Match website.
