The last month has been full of positives for the global football community after months of uncertainty and gloom; the Bundesliga set the restart ball rolling exactly a month back, clubs in Spain and Italy have resumed action, while the Premier League has made its much-awaited comeback. Beyond the game, one man has silently kick-started a revolution to make life better for those facing the worst of the pandemic and its fallout. That man is Marcus Rashford.
The Manchester United forward collaborated with the organisation FareShare in March 2019 to raise money to feed poor children who were doomed to go without their regular free meals after schools closed down across Britain. The initiative, he revealed, was driven by his own tryst with financial insecurity as a kid. “I always said that if I was ever in a position to make a difference, then I would,” Rashford said. “My mum worked all day every day when I was growing up to make sure I had at least one meal on the table every night. There was a breakfast club I could go to at school that was free. I used to have school meals and a snack in an after-school club.”
“No child should have to worry where their next meal is coming from,” pleaded the England international.
He has done his bit to deliver on his promise. The campaign went on to raise £20 million, much higher than the aim of £100,000, and has helped feed nearly three million children a week. Now he has influenced the UK Government to extend the free school meal program over the summer holidays. “This is not about politics; this is about humanity,” he stated in his open letter addressed to British parliamentarians. And to add to his glorious story, we must remember the ‘In The Box’ campaign he launched last year to support Manchester’s homeless shelters.
All this, at 22 years of age. It’s been just over four years since a lanky kid emerged out of oblivion to score twice against Midtjylland and become United’s newest young sensation. He has now played under three managers at Old Trafford, making over 200 appearances for the club. On the field, Rashford has had his most productive season yet in the past year. Yet, it’s his work off the field that is making people, beyond the fans, sit up and take notice.
Some would say that youngsters like Rashford demonstrate that English football has turned a corner. The national team has stepped up its game recently, mostly propped by a group of extremely talented young players. But more importantly, there is a sense of responsibility that seems to radiate from the current crop. A responsibility to keep their heads down and concentrate on the game, and yet retaining the drive to espouse the right cause. It would be difficult to say so for much of England’s stars from the past few decades. Rashford’s international teammate Raheem Sterling’s emergence as a robust mouthpiece against racism in the sport is another useful example.
What makes Rashford’s actions more triumphant is what has followed it – a massive outpouring of support bridging fan-bases and grudges, splitting entrenched schisms in a sport that often manages to prove that it is much beyond just a sport. This is one such occasion. It re-enforces something that’s as true for football as for humanity – it’s all irrevocably fragmented and the strife is as needless as it is ceaseless, but when a common cause needs to be carried on the shoulders, everybody lends a pair.
Every great action incites hope. Football is an ever widening community, and every year a new generation of superstars rise up to the pinnacle of the sport. The hope is that the footballer of the future takes inspiration from the likes of Marcus Rashford, Stadio Mane and Raheem Sterling and stands up against what’s wrong, and for what’s right. The world is being exponentially split on socio-economic and political lines, and there is ample room and necessity for those who have the microphone to make themselves heard. In an age where the world is intimately connected to its mortal superheroes, the footballers belong firmly to this influential breed.
Marcus Rashford wants us to understand that “without the kindness and generosity of the community I had around me, there wouldn’t be the Marcus Rashford you see today: a 22-year-old Black man lucky enough to make a career playing a game I love.” We can simply hope that more stars can adopt the same resolve that he has and help build for better. We can always thank Marcus Rashford for the other-worldly knuckle-ball free-kicks, but this time, we should thank him for simply being human.
(Debdut Mukherjee is a student at the Indian Institute of Management, Indore)
Disclaimer: The views expressed above are the author’s own. They do not necessarily reflect the views of DH.
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