About a Ball: Marcus Rashford

The World Game. A sport that requires one thing and one thing only, a ball.

Football’s accessibility to a plethora of demographics, spanning to every corner of the globe is one of the reasons it maintains unparalleled popularity. But that isn’t why it’s the world game.

Football provides players and fans with a platform in which they can express, articulate and enjoy themselves. For Manchester United’s locally grown talisman Marcus Rashford, his platform has recently become much larger than football. Rashford has decided to use his footballing platform to focus on humanity, in doing so he has gone on to change the lives of hundreds of thousands of British citizens, and he’s only just getting started.

Rashford is a graduate from Manchester United’s youth academy, not to mention one of the finest graduates in recent memory. He was offered his first taste of senior football as a late call-up, after Anthony Martial received a knock in the warm-up of United’s 2016 Europa League clash with FC Midtjylland. The Mancunian took no time in stamping his name all over the back pages of the press, when he produced two goals and a man-of-the-match performance as United defeated the Danish side.

Since his astonishing first impression, the then British teen hasn’t taken his foot off the pedal. Rashford scored another brace in his first Premier League start at home to Arsenal and has since gone on to headline Manchester United’s strike force. The forward has rotated as both a striker and winger for the Red Devils as well as the English National Team. The twenty-two-year-old now has 64 goals in 204 appearances for Manchester United, a tally which he will only continue to improve on in the coming years.

Rashford’s philanthropic nature was recently highlighted, with the forward collaborating with CBBC to direct an online PE lesson for children stuck at home during isolation. This small but generous act was lauded by at-home parents as huge numbers of children partook and also enjoyed the session.

Rashford also voluntarily learned sign language whilst in isolation during the month of March. A young fan reached out to him online asking him to select the winners for their school’s World Book Day poetry competition, to which Rashford obliged.

Rashford, the unstoppable force on the pitch has now become just as, if not more impactful off it. With his small acts of kindness grabbing positive attention in the eyes of the public, Rashford took leaps and bounds further in June. The footballer single-handedly spearheaded a movement to force the British Government to extend their free school meals for poor children program over the summer break.

Having already raised enough funding to provide over three million meals for those in need through FareShareUK, Rashford pulled strings wherever possible to get the Government on-board with his cause.

On the 15th of June 2020, Rashford publically penned a letter to every single MP in the British Parliament. An elegantly portrayed, intelligently positioned piece to encourage the public to join him. He wanted as many members of the public standing by his side as possible, as they pressured The Government to re-evaluate their decision to cut the program.

The letter voiced the struggle which the Premier League footballer and his mother went through. This struggle is one which is becoming frighteningly familiar for so many at this very moment. It communicated the pain that came from his mother struggling to make ends meet on a day-to-day basis, as they were financially unstable for much of his childhood. He gave insights as to how tough it was on these families and how without that governmental support, he would never have gotten to where he is today. He made it clear that if not assisted, then 200,000 British children going to bed hungry tonight and for the foreseeable future. He then asked, if not supported in their times of need, would these same children be proud to one day represent their national team?

Rashford followed up by succinctly claiming “this isn’t about politics, it’s about humanity”.

The footballer went to training shortly after, before returning home that evening after training to realise that his post was met with 161,000 retweets. The plethora of retweets were directed to local MPs, accompanied by the hashtag “maketheUturn”, exactly as he had hoped.

In the hours that followed Rashford capitalised on all the positive publicity that he was receiving, as well as the power of the campaign’s position as number one on the UK’s trending charts. He continued to tweet, he continued to ask for public support, and he shared stories as well as support from external organisations.

Co-Op made a public announcement that they been inspired by Rashford’s perseverance and thus extended their free meals scheme over the holidays as well, which would feed over 6,000 children.

After an initial push-back by the British Government, on the evening of 16th of June, it was announced that the Government would extend their funding for the free school meals for poor children over the summer break. A landmark moment for Rashford, football and The United Kingdom. The power of the masses working relentlessly and harmoniously to force the government into supporting a good cause was one of the first of its kind, but it wouldn’t be the last.

In response to the incredible news, Rashford tweeted “I don’t even know what to say. Just look at what we can do when we come together, THIS is England in 2020.”

In a following tweet acknowledging their incredible breakthrough, the footballer made it clear that there is still as long way to go, but at least the families who will now receive the government’s support have one less thing to worry about for the time being.

A one of a kind movement, as well as a one of a kind result, displaying the influence that even footballers now have. One determined individual using their high-profile footballing platform to congregate the public in order to get the Government to support those in need.

The events that occurred truly were a landmark occasion, which has now set a precedent for footballers across the globe. As Marcus Rashford displayed, footballers have the power to change the world, on a much deeper level than any ever imagined.