Guiseley AFC have set their fans a unique ‘Walk for Wesley’ challenge in support of Wesley’s Wish – sweat more than our football team!
The Lions are hoping their fans will be more active than the first team on the 26th, the date of their home match with Gloucester City.
The club intends to record how many calories fans burn in walking or cycling to Nethermoor and compare it with the number the Guiseley players will use up during 90 minutes of an intensely-competitive football match.
Guiseley AFC, working with the Guiseley Lions, aim to use the ‘Walk for Wesley’ challenge as an opportunity to support local baby Wesley Knight, who was born prematurely and has cerebral palsy, and is unlikely to be able to walk without Selective Dorsal Rhizotomy (SDR) procedure.
Wesley’s family are aiming to raise £90,000 to cover the SDR operation and three years of specialist intensive physiotherapy, and they have recently had confirmation that, subject to Wes’s family being able to fund the procedure, he will be accepted for the operation in the United States.
The club will be offering fans to chance to buy a special ‘Walk for Wesley’ voucher for £5, which will record how far fans have walked as well as providing a discount on admission to the ground, a free snack and entry into a special half-time draw should the fans beat the players in the calorie challenge. Every penny from the voucher sales will go to ‘Wesley’s Wish’.
Chairman Phil Rogerson hopes that the home fans and the local community will get behind the challenge.
“We are a club firmly rooted in the local community so many of our fans already walk or cycle to home matches. However, the players use a tremendous amount of energy during the course of a competitive match so we need as many of our supporters as possible to get behind the challenge and show our players that they can match them for physical effort.
“It’s a great opportunity for the club and fans to support Wesley’s Wish and hopefully we will see some new faces at the ground too. Everyone is welcome at Guiseley AFC, even if you haven’t been before, especially anyone who lives locally and has not yet experienced a match at Nethermoor.”
‘Walk for Wesley’ vouchers will be available from the club at the Colwyn Bay home game on Saturday 19th April, and they will also be sold outside the ground before kick-off at the Gloucester City match on 26th April.
