Huddersfield Town players admit football is “only a game”

A visit from Huddersfield Town led players to admit “football is just a game!”

Just a few days before newly promoted Huddersfield Town beat Manchester United 2-1 (yes, really), a group of Huddersfield’s first-team players came for a tour of Russell House to see for themselves why our children’s hospice has been chosen as one of the club’s supported charities this year. The players saw the music and teenage rooms, the sensory room and the hydrotherapy pool, among other facilities – and were hugely impressed.

According to defender Tommy Smith: “It’s been a real eye-opener. The effort and work and time that the people who work here put into this place is nothing short of amazing. Some of the facilities here are incredible. It does make you realise there’s a lot more to life than football.”

Andy Booth, who played for Huddersfield from 1992-96 and again from 2001-09 (with five years at Sheffield Wednesday and a loan to Tottenham Hotspur in-between), is now an ambassador for the club and accompanied the players on the visit to the children’s hospice. “We’re playing Manchester United on Saturday – probably the biggest game of their careers,” says Booth. “But you come here and you realise it’s just a game of football. “It’s been a great experience for the lads to come and see what it’s all about,” he continues. “Obviously we talk about it at the club, but to see it first-hand – this is what it’s all about; this is real life, and it puts it all into perspective.”

The fact that Huddersfield Town is now in the Premier League means Forget Me Not will benefit from lots more visibility (our logo is on the club stands) as well as fundraising support. The visibility is critical because not every family who needs us knows about us. Here’s hoping Huddersfield can keep all those other major teams on their toes!