Jump to content

Francis Benali's Big Run


Norm

Recommended Posts

Batman might be right when he states that clubs/players are inundated with charitable requests, and already have chosen charities, but I think that an ex-pro who played for 12 years (??) in the PL doing something like this isn't quite the norm. Not sure how many people run between all PL clubs in 3 weeks.

 

PL clubs could quite easily have found £5k each down the back of the boardroom sofa. And then the players could probably have found that in loose change in their Ferrari's ashtray. Given the amount of money sloshing around, it is a shame. While no one should be beholden to give to charity, you might have thought that it would present a good photo opportunity to them and the PL as a whole. So I guess Batman must be right. http://www.premierleague.com/en-gb/news/news/2014-15/sep/former-southampton-defender-francis-benali-close-to-completing-1000-mile-run-for-cancer-research.html PL seem happy to cash in though!!!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Running around all 20 Premier League Clubs for Cancer Research UK because I want to raise over £1,000,000 for CRUK.

 

Here is the link to his Just Giving page, in case anyone wishes to donate https://www.justgiving.com/BenalisBigRun Mods, if this is in the wrong place, sorry.

 

 

Hi Norm, I watched the film of Frannie's emotional return to St.Mary's after his long distance run....and reminded myself what a great club spirit we have at SFC.

The other thought that came to mind was that period when Nicola Cortese was " top man" and dragged us kicking and screaming ....out of L1 and up into the Premier League....

 

As someone who spent a lifetime working in business I saw that; despite the many criticisms and complaints about his methods, it was a necessary task though not always carried out painlessly.

In retrospect, he DAJFU..especially when you consider where those other clubs around us (in the L1 days) ...are today. It's clear he was the right man at the right time, but thankfully he moved on.

 

One point of bitterness about his reign as Chairman was the cold-blooded (call it ruthless) way he treated some of the heroes that we admired, in pursuit of the greatness he sought for the club.

....which brought back reminders of his " takeover tiff " with MLT....and that squabble with Frannie over the " well-publicised " problems at the house.....(storm in a tea cup, really)

 

But on Saturday...when Frannie ran into SMS and was greeted by a line of his old team mates .....and 27,000 true fans.....it suddenly felt like he (NC) had never been there at all.

 

Cortese did a lot that we should be grateful for, but it was always clear..... he was never going to be FAMILY !

Link to comment
Share on other sites

So Franny runs 1,000 miles and so far has raised around £1000,000 for research into finding a cure for a cruel disease.

 

A dogs' home burns down and 60 dogs which nobody wanted (why else were they in the home?) are killed, and £1.5m is raised overnight.

 

I don't wish to antagonise dog owners, but it says something about this country.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

So Franny runs 1,000 miles and so far has raised around £1000,000 for research into finding a cure for a cruel disease.

 

A dogs' home burns down and 60 dogs which nobody wanted (why else were they in the home?) are killed, and £1.5m is raised overnight.

 

I don't wish to antagonise dog owners, but it says something about this country.

 

Does it? Or is it more that this was publicised across the national news whereas franny had basically no publicity.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

A while ago I read that more money is donated to animal charities than human causes in Britain. I don't know if that's true, but there does seem to still be a 'awww cute animals' thing going on. Overall donations have gone up across the board which is good, but the dogs home thing is annoying. Wouldn't have a problem if it wasn't for Franny's efforts being ignored so much. Can't help but think a higher profile player does it and it's everywhere, beats £1m easily. You'd think with 20 premier league clubs involved, countless ex players and current players with plenty of money, it wouldn't be that hard. I don't expect people to give thousands of course, but there are a hell of a lot of players out there.

 

Did each club not donate? I appreciate they all do their own charity work, but would £5k mean anything to a premier league club? That's an extra £200k right there.

 

Saints do a lot of great charity work, but I was half hoping they'd double Franny's total too.

 

Don't see the problem with people donating to the dog's home, an immediate need for capital help was there because the insurance - assuming they had it - won't cover it all by a long chalk. I donated to Franny's run because it thought it was a fantastic but then I also donated a decent amount to two friends running for Macmillan and British Lung Foundation. My point? The dog's home is a one-off tragic event and will therefore generate more of a one-off reaction from the public whereas the push to fund the research to reduce the impact of cancer is massively important but on-going, with massive and diverse fundraising activities from all different segments of society. If human beings treated animals better, there would be less need for dogs homes on that scale. People could always donate to BOTH instead of moaning about one cause - not getting at Adrian or any one poster here - being more important than the other.

 

Wonderful effort by Franny in summary and to raise a substantial six-figure sum and raise so much publicity will do wonders for CRUK. That great welcome on Saturday shows the esteem he is held in by Saints fans and terrible that he was allegedly excluded from SFC in the first place.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

They just ran a really great piece about Benali's run here on Chinese TV, presumably the same one they showed in the UK but translated. Was great to see, especially the footage of him coming in to the stadium. I didn't get to see it last week as they cut away at half-time to these pre-recorded packages all the time. Shame they didn't cover it during the run itself, but was still awesome to see it mentioned on this side of the world. I'd been telling my Chinese wife about it but she wasn't much interested, but when she saw the film she was quite touched. Benali = legend.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Watched the footage of Franny and Ralph running into Arlesford and the clips of them through the country lanes before they got there. Don't know where Franny lives but got the impression that the run started from his home. Anyone, any idea how far Ralph ran with him, because it looked very impressive and certainly more than I'd have done, even at Ralph's young age (in comparison to me now).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Watched the footage of Franny and Ralph running into Arlesford and the clips of them through the country lanes before they got there. Don't know where Franny lives but got the impression that the run started from his home. Anyone, any idea how far Ralph ran with him, because it looked very impressive and certainly more than I'd have done, even at Ralph's young age (in comparison to me now).

 

I think I read or heard in an interview that Ralph ran around 10 miles with Franny. More impressive is MLT who ran 20+ miles TWICE with Franny. I shall be running with Matt at the inaugural Southampton Half marathon next spring! I hope the race is a big success for the city as it brings a lot of investment on race weekend with hotels/restaurants being filled up etc.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think I read or heard in an interview that Ralph ran around 10 miles with Franny. More impressive is MLT who ran 20+ miles TWICE with Franny. I shall be running with Matt at the inaugural Southampton Half marathon next spring! I hope the race is a big success for the city as it brings a lot of investment on race weekend with hotels/restaurants being filled up etc.

 

Had no idea this was happening! 5,000 people - I'd love to compete. The course looks fantastic too. Can't imagine a two hour drive back to Bristol would be much fun though...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...