Football fan walking to all 92 stadiums arrives at Gillingham F.C.'s Priestfield

KentOnline / KMTV

Priestfield Stadium marked his 71st stadium on his journey, which has seen him walking more than 16 hundred miles, all to shine a light on the community work that football clubs do.  Finn Macdiarmid reports.

Transcript

00:00How much do you love the beautiful game?

00:02Enough to walk 1,600 miles, the equivalent of 61 marathons every day for more than two

00:07months?

00:08No, me neither.

00:09But that's what one football fan, Xavier Wiggins, is doing, walking across the country

00:13to each of the 92 professional stadiums in 92 days.

00:17And if he succeeds, he'll be the first in history to complete the challenge, and he's

00:21just arrived at Priestfield, making it his 71st stadium, all to highlight the work that

00:25football clubs do for their community.

00:27I'm on day 74, here at Gillingham is ground 71, I think it's 1,600 miles, about 3.5 million

00:38steps, and I'm doing it specifically to shine a light on the good stuff that football is

00:44doing.

00:45Because they're not bankrolled by the football clubs, whether it's the Manchester United

00:49Foundation or Gillingham, they're not bankrolled, they're standalone charities, and they need

00:53the support of the community, because they're supporting that community as well.

00:57If I were to go up to a random football fan on the street and ask them, how is your club

01:01doing at the moment, they might tell me about the growing injury list, their concerns with

01:05the new manager, or maybe last Saturday's result away.

01:07But what Gilles and Xavier are keen to change is they want people to be more aware of the

01:12charity and community efforts that their clubs are doing off the pitch.

01:15There's community programmes going on, and that's working with a variety of different entities

01:20around the community.

01:23As Xavier mentioned, whether that's kids football, where we want to create a lasting habit of

01:27enjoying physical activity and have a lifelong association with the national game, whether

01:32it's in schools encouraging positive behaviour and fulfilling their potential through the educational

01:37routes, or it can be a real positive impact on bringing communities together that need a

01:42bit of support with actual mental health or various other challenges in their life, and

01:46football can bring those people together.

01:48The Gillingham Foundation are still in the process of applying for charity status, but are focusing

01:52on their community efforts, including holding a yearly grassroots youth football tournament

01:56at Priestfield.

01:57Xavier's got 21 football clubs left to go after the Gilles, and so far he's raised more than

02:02£13,000 towards his £20,000 goal, all going to football-based charities.

02:07He'll be ending his walk at Plymouth's Holm Park, which would make him the first to visit

02:11the 92 stadiums in 92 days.

02:14Finn McDermott for KMTV in Gillingham.

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