FFS Charity Football Tournament – Matchday Preview

The stage is set for four teams (as listed below) to battle it out in the first Simon Humber Charity Cup, which is supported by Fantasy Football Scout.

The even takes place at Hendon Football Centre, Barnet, on Saturday 24 February (12-3pm).

As mentioned previously, the day is being staged in memory of community member Simon Humber (aka Absinthe) who lost his battle with ocular melanoma  in 2015. All the money raised will go to The Melanoma Research Foundation – a charity identified and verified in our recent contact with Simon’s family.

At the timing of writing, donations on the Just Giving page had hit £680, with a further £350 pledged by the Premier League. If you have not yet donated and can spare a few quid, please do so, although note that donations are expressed in dollars, rather than pounds.

It’s fair to say that there has been some lively banter on the Cup’s WhatsApp group, with ChickenBhuna already up to five charity fines (the Cup equivalent of the disciplinary tightrope) and due to sit out the first match.

His crimes range from swearing, arguing to claiming to be “always suspect to a bad challenge or hack.” He had already promised teammate and agent provocateur, FFSprout, a Keiron Dyer – Lee Bowyer moment, before Sprout mysteriously withdrew from the event the following day (only messing, good luck with your interview, Sprout!)

Another player who was sadly forced to withdraw was Tm370. Photographic evidence of an injury he picked up sent shockwaves through the group and lead people to tear up their Cup draft squads. His team, Malaga, have promised to wear training shirts with his face on, Neymar-Brazil style, to honour him.

Contrastingly, Steve B’s (or rather his wife’s) commitment to the cause was highlighted by the early and safe arrival of his son, who’s birth had been due to clash with the Cup event. This happy parent is now available to lace up his boots and take to the field.

My favourite exchange so far has been between Applebonkers, Tibbles and others, who reminded us how obsessive Fantasy Premier League fans can be by calculating how many minutes per game our Cup players would have to play to earn appearance and clean sheet points.

This group have also been speculating on players’ positions and prices and the likely reasons some of our lads may end up being flagged the night before the game – possibly not one for discussion on this forum.

Rupert the Horse, who hopes to raise money through fines by nut-megging his way through most of the opposition, has been busy organising the filming of this prestigious event  as well as picking up a bottle of Absinthe for the day in tribute to Simon.

We’ll hopefully be posting “live” updates on this article tomorrow.