FINAL HURRAY

With England and The FA now concentrating on the World Cup, the curtain has been finally drawn on the 2009/10 FA Cup.

This also means the fantastic charity adventure Runcorn2wembley is also at at end. After following the FA Cup from the very first round, the campaign was still collecting for Cancer Research despite not being allowed to the semi finals or final.

I managed to get to see every game (including replays) up the semi final, which makes the decision by the powers that be to not allow us to attend either semi or final very annoying.

Thank you must go to all the clubs we visited, their fans and the following people who came along to collect at the games. Rob Knowles, Sarah O'Brien, Chris O'Brien, Patrick O'Brien, Lawrence Whiston, Jonny Lewin, Andy James, John Horn, Chris Corse, Peter Bowers, Simon Baggeley, Neil Goodwin. If I've missed anyone off let me know.

A special mention to Chris Horner, someone who we didn't know before the campaign started, but offered to help us collect after reading about the campaign at the Guiseley v Kendal game. He then attended every game until the semi final.

The biggest thank you goes to everyone who has donated, it means so much to me and my brother Rob.

The fundraising and donations page is still open for people to donate and we hope the current total of £4,415.00 will continue to increase.

So as I now prepare for watching England go out of the World Cup in the usual dismal fashion in the 2nd round or quarter finals, I know following the FA Cup will have to wait. With mine and Sarah's first child due in July we've got more important things to think about.

I'll leave this blog on two points:

1 - Support your local non-league football clubs as they deserve you're hard earned cash much more than the bigger clubs.
2 - The FA and big clubs are only interested in football for what they can get out of it, financially. Unfortunately this means fans are meaningless in the modern era, but become more important the lower you go down the leagues.

SEASON FINALE

So the 2009/10 FA Cup has finished for another season, but the charity campaign that followed it from the start wasn’t there at the finish.

Despite clocking up thousands of miles following the competition, Runcorn2wembley was unable to complete its mission at Wembley.

The campaign, organised by brothers Richard and Robert Knowles has raised almost £4,500 for Cancer Research, but is short of the £5,000 target.

The duo started the campaign in August at Runcorn Linnets, all in the name of their father who played for a number of amateur clubs but died from cancer when they were young children.

Despite pleas to local councils, the football clubs, police and The FA, Runcorn2wembley was unable to carry out the main fundraising activity of collecting from fans outside the ground before the game.

The campaign was unable to collect or attend the semi final or final and therefore has fallen short of the £5,000 target.

Richard, from Frodsham, said: “We’re delighted to have raised so much money for a cause close to our hearts, but disappointed with the reaction of various organisations to Runcor2wembley attending the semi finals and final at Wembley.

“Being denied permission to collect at Wembley has meant we’ve not reached our target, although credit must be given to the fans and clubs that have been very welcoming to Runcorn2wembley.”

Robert, from Southport, is hoping online donations will continue to boost the total. He said: “The FA Cup may be over for this season, but fans can still donate online.

“I’m not sure we’ll be doing this again for the foreseeable future as Richard and I will both be parents by the time next season’s competition beings.”

To donate simply go to www.justgiving.co.uk/richard-knowles

FINAL PUSH FOR DONATIONS

Well the FA Cup final is just over a week away and Runcorn2wembley appears to have run out of help from the organisations, clubs and the FA.

After receiving great support from fans and the non-league and small league clubs since the start and along the way, it's sad to keep hitting a brick wall when trying to get help from the big clubs, The FA, councils and police.

Football, and in particular the FA Cup, is meant to be about the fans, but money is now the only factor in professional football in this country.

After travelling over 3,000 miles to every corner of the country and meeting so many true fans of the game at places like Runcorn, Guiseley, Kendal and Nuneaton, how pathetic that clubs like Chelsea and Aston Villa either ignore emails and phone calls, or dismiss a charity campaign without even looking at the history of it.

Runcorn2wembley is in memory of our dad who died when Rob and I were still in primary school. As an amateur footballer with clubs like Marine, Runcorn and Skelmersdale, our dad played for the love of the game, not for the money it could give him.

I know he would be disgusted at how the game has developed since he played in the 1960s.

The 'investment' at clubs like Man City and Tottenham can make fans happy with the relative success it achieves, but at what cost? Who pays for the disgusting wages of £100k a week for people who don't care about the club they play for, like the fans do?

That's right - the fans pay for it in ticket costs and the various refreshments etc available at matches.

In the Premiership money is bringing the game to the brink of disaster. Just look at Portsmouth with debts of £138m and the real threat of the club folding.

This shows money is the only thing that matters to the people who run these clubs and campaigns like Runcorn2wembley will find it harder and harder to find support.

Which brings me on to the main point of this post, to ask for a final push for Runcorn2wembley to reach the target of £5,000 for Cancer Research. We need just over £750 to reach it.

Any donations will make such a huge difference to the help Cancer Research can give to finding solutions to the many cancer deaths every year.

I'll update next week and hope to have good news on the donation front.