Margam Stags complete 41-mile walk in aid of inclusion football
Margam Stags – Margam Football Club’s inclusion team – walked from the Cardiff City Stadium to the Swansea.com Stadium on south Wales derby day to raise funds for a new indoor sports centre and community hub, as well as raising awareness of the importance of inclusive sport.
Coaches and parents of the Port Talbot-based pan-disability football club started the 41-mile walk on Friday evening, making the long journey overnight and arriving in SA1 at 11.30am; an hour before kick-off.
On arrival at the stadium – some 15 hours after they had started their journey – they were greeted by Swansea City chairman Andy Coleman, who presented the core group of walkers with a signed shirt.
The walkers – made up of club chairman John Heycock, alongside Katie Heycock, Sian Edwards, Sonya Auger, Anthony Cole, Dale Thomas, Mark Thomas, Jonathan Smithers, Nicola Robson and Port Talbot’s famous Captain Beany – were joined on the trail by supporters at various stages of the walk, while Frank Bernie was in the support vehicle.
For the final leg of the journey – which took the group along the river adjacent to the Swansea.com Stadium – the Margam Stags players themselves joined in.
“It's hard to find the words to thank both clubs and both sets of fans for their wonderful support,” John said of Swansea City and Cardiff City.
“It was a cold night and, when we reached Margam at 7am, all of our walkers were extremely tired and aching all over. However, we carried on regardless of sore legs and several blisters to ensure we made our goal to raise awareness.
“We wanted to make this an extreme challenge to highlight why it is so important to provide opportunities for children with disabilities that grassroots football players might sometimes take for granted.
“Not only do we hope we underlined how important inclusion football is – my dream is that every town in Wales will have a disability football team for children - but we have also raised around £4,500 to help build a new community hub in Margam.
“We weren’t expecting to be met by Andy. We were just expecting someone from the club to come down, so to have him there was very good.
“I’d like to add that the support of Swansea and the Swansea fans has been amazing. The fans are always sharing our progress on social media. We can’t thank them enough.”
The walk also had a far more poignant meaning for those who took part, as the walkers carried the flag of Swansea City supporter Chris Brown who sadly passed away last month at the age of 29.
“Chris was an advocate for pan disability football an ambassador of the football team,” John continued.
“He was an inspiration to everyone he met, and the children loved him, so we decided that the walk would also be in his memory.”
You can donate to Margam Stags via the button below.