Footy Really Matters

Online football magazine FootyMatters.com is to host a charity fund raising event in the form of a community football tournament involving some of the UK's most innovative football charities.

From charities battling homelessness and unemployment to organisations creating educational programmes, the tournament will bring together key figures in football's third sector.

Teams taking part in the inaugural event, which takes place at London’s Paddington Recreation Grounds on Saturday 26 May, will compete for a half of the total raised.

The remaining monies will be awarded to the participating charity who acquires the most votes in an online public poll: www.footymatters.com/communitycup

The projects include:

Tackle Africa - deliver HIV education through football coaching to young people across Africa.

Zesh Rehman Foundation - use football as a vehicle for personal self-development and equip young people to aspire to enter the football industry.

London Tigers - a fully-fledged multi-sport fitness, education, community safety, volunteering and health organisation.

Pro Touch Soccer Academy - aims to provide young people with ‘the bridge and experience to professional football’.

Institute of Fundraising - supports more than 5,200 individual fundraisers and 340 charities in the exceptional work that they do.

Homeless World Cup - uses football to energise homeless people to change their own lives.

Flexi Football - the new hassle free, fun way of playing 11-a-side football and is the perfect alternative to 5-aside.

Calthorpe Project – home to the UK’s first outdoor facility dedicated to the South American small-sided game of Futsal.

Kits4Causes - takes unwanted kits to deprived communities where the appreciation for apparel adds to the raw passion for playing football.

Former Chelsea captain and a leading Kick ItOut ambassador, Paul Elliott gave the Community Cup his stamp of approval when he said: "Kick It Out is proud to be supporting the Community Cup. The tournament is raising awareness and funds for a whole range of worthwhile causes, and this is something Footy Matters should be praised for. This initiative is engaging people from all different communities and backgrounds, and is further proof of how football can be used as a powerful tool to bring about positive change."

Championing the relationship between football and the community is one of Footy Matters’ key areas. The site has previously featured community initiatives such as Dream a Dream's work to alleviate poverty in India, Urban Initiative’s fight against obesity in Chicago, World in Need's work drawing young Nigerians away from the militia and more.

Alex Lawson, Community Matters editor at FootyMatters.com, said: "The Community Cup provides a great opportunity for charities to display both their talent and their work within the community. The collective impact those involved are having both on the football community and wider society is commendable and this event will celebrate those advances."

Whilst the event won’t be open to the public, you can still support the Community Cup by going www.footymatters.com/communitycup and voting for the charity that you would like to win. Votes are free, so if you’ve never supported a charity before, here’s your chance!

The Scarlet C

Photo courtesy of 05evelma

Branded a drugs cheat, the subject of many a public debate, regularly vilified in 140 characters or less – it’s a wonder he even gets out of bed. Most of us can hardly manage the criticism from a manager or someone whose opinion we value, let alone the scrutiny of an entire nation. Chambers has been bold in facing his critics head on – a move that many of us would struggle to make.

There isn’t enough evidence to prove that the mental pressure he is likely to be under can only outweigh the gains that some people feel Chambers is still benefiting from. (Fernando Torres, however, may endorse this argument).

One has to ask, why would a governing body with so many scientists at their disposal allow a cheat to compete if the substances he was taking would still give him an advantage this many years on?

Long term gains or not, the Chambers debate isn’t about whether or not he is still benefiting from the gains, it is about feelings versus the law. How many of us can truly say that we put in a full day’s work? Is that not cheating? Is there a big cheat and a little cheat? Chambers just reminds us of our flaws and we hate him for it.

The overturning of his lifetime battle was just one of the challenges Chambers now needs to overcome. It’s unlikely that he will be embraced by his teammates for fear of upsetting their own fans and he will be under far more surveillance than he ever has been due to his history.

Many will argue that he’s made his bed and therefore has to lie in it and to an extent – they’re right. Ironically, the average person passing judgment will never find themselves in the circumstances Chambers did and are therefore not in a position to judge.

I think it’s a testament to his character to not only fall from grace but to attempt to reclaim his status as a successful sprinter, but this time with a scarlet ‘C’ on his chest.