Jeff Stelling celebrates a ten-year partnership with Non-League Day this weekend - and has a warning for the future of the game.
TV and radio star Stelling has become a national treasure for his work with Prostate Cancer UK and is Hartlepool United's most famous fan. Stelling will be at Eastleigh as they host Hartlepool in the National League on Saturday as one of ten fixtures raising awareness and funds for Prostate Cancer to urge more men to get checked.
Non-league takes centre stage this weekend because of the international break and, while the EFL has been the focus of calls for a new financial deal with the Premier League, the rest of the football pyramid arguably needs support even more.
Stelling said: “If you look at players like Jamie Vardy who has come all the way through the pyramid and reached the top or Pelly Ruddock Mpanzu at Luton. They show the importance of non-league to the Premier League and the rest of the pyramid.
“Clubs like Notts County or Scunthorpe have always had incredible crowds and, on the flip side of the coin, clubs are in danger of going to the wall and never coming back. I’ve always thought the Premier League has money to spare. It’s like the pauper asking the rich man if there’s some money to spare.
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“The average Premier League player’s salary would keep a National League club in business for three months. Non-league clubs do so much for the community as we will see this weekend.”
Stelling’s own club Hartlepool face a six-hour journey to Eastleigh which is just a 20-minute drive from the talkSPORT breakfast show host’s house. It has not been an easy ride for Hartlepool this season but Stelling is proud to be part of another day of action for Prostate Cancer which has had a ten-year tie-up with the National League and its sponsors Vanarama.
Jeff Stelling celebrates Hartlepool winning the National League playoffs in 2021 (Getty Images)What game are you attending on Non-League Day? Share your plans in the comments below
Stelling said: “It has been fantastically rewarding and, as Andy Gray would say: ‘football, take a bow, son.’ Managers and players have got behind it and there’s been so many bosses who do post-match interviews with the badge on their lapel.
“We’ve done 34 walking marathons and I often tell this story about the end of the first day of my very first one from Hartlepool. It was cold, wet and I was covered in blisters. But one of the organisers said a woman wanted to speak to me and I went over and she said: ‘Thank you - you saved my husband’s life.’
“They’d seen the badges on Soccer Saturday, wondered what they were, looked them up on the website, read about symptoms, got themselves checked and had a diagnoses of advanced prostate cancer but caught it just in time.”
To find out more about your risk, or that of your partner, father or friend, visit Prostate Cancer UK’s website and try our 30-second online risk checker.
Spanish giants underline TV supremecy
Even though the Premier League is seen as all-powerful, UEFA surely scheduled the Champions League quarter-finals so Barcelona and Real Madrid would play on different days. The two Spanish superpowers are still huge TV draws and, unlike Arsenal and Manchester City who will play on the same nights, they have been deliberately kept apart.
That even includes even Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid playing on consecutive nights on April 9 and 10 respectively with officials in the Spanish capital insisting they can cope with the demand of fans Manchester City and Borussia Dortmund.
FA decide on play-off emergency
There must be some red faces in football because there is now the very real chance of the Championship play-off final having to be moved with Coventry now just 90 minutes away from the FA Cup final.
World Cup hero wants Man Utd move as doubts over Harry Maguire's future grow
Mirror Sport reported two weeks ago that football chiefs had to put in a contingency plan in case a Championship club reached the play-off final AND FA Cup final. They have now settled on Sunday, June 2 as a back-up for the Championship play-off, just 24 hours after the FA Cup final.
Haji Wright celebrates his FA Cup winner vs Wolves (Getty Images)Frazer makes double gaffe
There have been few less inspiring Ministers than Culture Secretary Lucy Frazer who hardly managed to take advantage of the absolute tap-in presented by the Football Governance Bill this week. Football has always been a vote winner but not when Frazer was unable to answer a question on LBC about Manchester United's annual turnover.
Another own goal was Frazer appearing on the pitch at Leyton Orient to tell Premier League clubs to sort out a deal for the EFL. The Premier League had given the Os £2.25m in the last 12 months, including £750,000 for their new pitch.
Sterling makes Chelsea call
Raheem Sterling is going through one of the toughest spells of his career - but will not give up on Chelsea, even though there are certain to be lucrative offers this summer.
Sterling still claps the crowd which has booed him and even hung around after the game to clap the fans when it would have been easier just to head straight down the tunnel. You can be sure clubs in the Saudi Pro League would view him as a major coup but Sterling wants to stay and fight.
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