Former England footballer, Teddy Sheringham, kicks off this year’s Keep Your Eye on the Ball campaign by showing off his ball skills in a cheeky commercial aimed at getting football fans across the UK to check their testicles.
The ballsy advert will be broadcast in football grounds around the UK throughout the campaign’s Focus Fortnight awareness drive, from 30 March to 12 April 2009, in an effort to encourage men to catch testicular cancer early.
Sheringham joins a long list of England footballers including Steven Gerrard, David James and Peter Crouch who have supported the campaign since it was founded by the Everyman Male Cancer Campaign, the Professional Footballers Association and The Football Association in 2000.
Teddy said –
I admit it wasn’t the sort of call-up I was used to but when I was asked to support Keep Your Eye on the Ball, I had no hesitation in saying yes. Testicular cancer is the most common cancer in men aged 15 to 44 while prostate cancer is the biggest killer of men over 50 – that’s a huge portion of football fans in the UK. I want to encourage men to put as much attention into their health as they do their football so we can beat these diseases.
During Focus Fortnight, Keep Your Eye on the Ball will launch its first ever SMS competition where entrants can win one of five signed England football shirts. In addition, former Chelsea footballer and Everyman patron, Jason Cundy, will host a celebrity five-a-side match on 9 April at the Wimbledon Goals centre which will be refereed by Premier League man-in-black, Peter Walton.
All money raised for the campaign goes directly into funding research at The Everyman Centre – Europe’s first and only centre dedicated to male cancer research and part of The Institute of Cancer Research.
Football fans can find out how to get involved in the campaign by visiting the website: www.keepyoureyeontheball.org
Keep Your Eye On The Ball was set-up by The FA, PFA and Everyman in 2000 in response to several high profile players being diagnosed with testicular cancer. The aim is to raise awareness of testicular and prostate cancer within the football community and raise funds for research at The Everyman Centre – Europe’s first and only centre dedicated to male cancer research and part of The Institute of Cancer Research. Everyman is the UK’s leading male cancer campaign.
Testicular cancer is the most common form of cancer in men aged between 15 and 44, with about 2,000 cases a year in the UK. Incidence is increasing dramatically – by almost 4-fold in the last 50 years, but thanks to advances made at Everyman, testicular cancer is 99% curable if caught early, and with treatment the overall cure rate is 97%.
Prostate cancer has overtaken lung cancer to become the most common cancer in men affecting almost 35,000 every year in the UK. One man dies of prostate cancer in the UK every hour.
