Author Archive

Before the project was announced I was beavering away in the background. I met Steve Claridge recently and he was delighted to sign the first shirt for the 2013 journey! Steve and I have a lot in common. We’ve been to almost every ground in the UK. The difference is that Steve has scored at most of them. Thanks, Steve. There will be more on Steve’s involvement soon.

Steve was introduced to me by Gina Marks at the successful Estepona exhibition. Gina was keen to assist and happily signed an England shirt. Not sure that I will get 5000 signatures on that!

Charity Cycle Ride from Spain to Norway

In February 2013, I will undertake another charity cycle ride.
This time it is Marbella to Oslo.

1) I will leave Marbella on 6th Feb and arrive in Oslo on May 17th.

2) Nothing else – easy isn’t it?

OK, some more meat on the bone!

Route:

5000kms, 500 football grounds, 100 days in the saddle

1) I will leave Marbella on 6th Feb with a series of “starts” for different PR/marketing/sponsorship purposes along the Costa del Sol
2) I will cycle “direct” (via Almeriá) to be at the FC Torrevieja v Dénia game on 17th Feb. A stay of 10 days in Torrevieja is a focal point of the journey. I lived there for 7 years and have many friends and contacts there – this tour is ALL about PR/marketing/promotion/fund-raising. It is NOT about the journey. That must almost be played down.
3) I continue on through Valencia, Barcelona, Paris, Brussels, Amsterdam, Hamburg, Copenhagen and Gothenburg.
4) I aim to arrive in Oslo on 17th May – Norwegian National Day.

(Then MAYBE – TBC with sponsors – I will fly to England to cycle to the 4 clubs that have been promoted to the Football League since I was there in 2010. These are York, AFC Wimbledon, Crawley and Fleetwood. I would also visit Brighton’s new stadium plus the two teams that will get promoted this season) See www.theshirt2010.co.uk for details of the ground on the 2010 tour. My ULTIMATE intention is to cycle from New York/Toronto to Brazil for the 2014 World Cup.)

Why?

In 2009 I supported Bjørn Heidenstrøm with PR/marketing and Social Media www.bjørnheidenstrøm.com as he cycled from Norway to South Africa. So inspired was I that I cycled to the 92 football clubs in the UK. As always I will be looking to collect football shirts along the way. Bjørn already has some 2000 shirts sewn together and this is recognised by the Guinness Book of Records as the biggest shirt of its kind in the world!. The shirt has been seen by literally millions of people throughout the world and has been signed by presidents, sports stars, pop legends and thousands and thousands of “ordinary people”. Famous clubs such as Manchester United, Liverpool, Barcelona, Roma have all eagerly been involved in the project. The Shirt symbolises the family of football coming together for the common good.

Charity:

We always support a charity.

I am considering AECC, Cudeca (Costa del Sol Charity) and MABS (Costa Blanca North Charity) – three Spanish cancer charities. Several local charities will also be supported.

Accommodation:

I am hoping that CouchSurfing will prove its worth. If not, I will beg/steal or borrow beds/couches and bus-shelters. Worst case scenario – 30 euros gets a room in most of Spain. It does NOT in Scandinavia!

In Spain, I am less concerned about accommodation. I am deliberately taking the Levante route as 50% of my contacts in Spain are along the coast from Marbella to the French border (That is the major reason that I will be at least 2 weeks on the Costa Blanca and almost 6 weeks in Spain). I will be travelling SLOWLY through Spain to get maximum exposure and then much faster through France.
I will be longer in Belgium/Netherlands where I have some good friends, faster through Germany and then a nice slow 1000 kms up the West Coast of Sweden where my route is almost completed with friends/family etc)

Sponsorship:

The idea is to complete this as a crowd-funded trip. I am looking for 5,000 sponsors at 1 euro/pound/dollar. I have revenue share numbers organised in the UK and am trying to get them throughout the trip. We will take Paypal and JustGiving as well as bank transfer etc etc

I will get ONE shirt signed by every single person I meet in return for their 1 euro. I will also wear a sponsored shirt – 10 sponsors at 100 euros? I am open to proposals re sponsored caps, training equipment etc.

ANY/ALL ideas for fund-raising/sponsorship are welcome BUT (as per above) I am much more interested in getting 100 sponsors at 50 euros than one at 5000.

Sponsors will be loved and cherished. I will give them maximum exposure in ThisIsSpain, HotCosta etc and of course they will be in www.theshirt2012.info(coming soon) See www.theshirt2010.co.uk as to how we promote friends, supporters, sponsors etc

I normally charge 150 euros for a page in www.thisisspain.info – any sponsor of (say) 50 euros + will get a free page. Any hotel etc would also get a free page.

There are unlimited fund-raising/sponsorship opportunities. Years of experience in this tells me that it is MUCH easier to get support/sponsorship “in kind”, pro bono or as pledge/endorsement rather than in hard cash. That is absolutely acceptable. Please let me have your suggestions and/or register for email updates below.

Yesterday I wrote about a meeting I had with Mark Catlin from Bury FC whilst the team was on tour in Spain and Gibraltar. Today he was kind enough to send me this article from Total Football. Yes, I know it’s a great site – don’t blame me if you spend all day on it!

Although I have not been filling your in-boxes on a daily basis with what I have been up to, I can assure you that Bjorn and I have been beavering away. It’s been great to get regular updates from many we were in contact with on our journeys and I’d like to highlight a few today.

1) Bury FC – my great friend Mark Catlin is the Commercial Director at the progressive Bury FC near Manchester. He has been a constant source of support and friendship since we started. As soon as he heard of Bjorn’s trip, he whizzed a shirt over and I think he was probably the first English club to support. Respect!

Later, I was warmly welcomed to the Gigg Lane ground when I travelled through the UK. I met up with him in Gibraltar at the weekend when the Bury team played a friendly against the Gibraltar national team. Those who have followed the project from day one will remember that we had a terrific reception in Gibraltar as Bjorn travelled through Europe.

Mark tells me the Bury team are doing well and that they are an outside bet for the Championship through the play-offs. This is a terrific achievement from probably the smallest club in League One. This is what mark said back in July 2010.

I talked to Mark about the project and he is keen to stay involved. We will be confirming details in the next few days but as a taster I can confirm that any friend of The Shirt can have free tickets to Bury or Crystal Palace home games! Thanks, Mark. He has another very exciting offer but I am sworn to secrecy…..let’s just say you will love it!

2) Whilst Mark and Bury have been long-term followers of the project, I am delighted to welcome Garry Pickles to the long list of supporters. I recently met Garry on www.ecademy.com who as many will know have given Bjorn and I great support over the last two years. Garry is the owner of Online Media Direct was immediately enthused about the project and immediately offered to send a shirt over. He said one of his clients,
T-Shirt Subway were shirt printers and he got them to assist! Thanks, Garry. We really appreciate your support.

“T-Shirt Subway Joins Charity Project to Create World’s Biggest Shirt

T-Shirt Subway is pleased to be part of an amazing project to create the world’s largest shirt in aid of charity.
The world’s greatest music t-shirts’ store is donating one of its own shirts to make up part of the biggest shirt ever seen!
Each t-shirt donated will be photographed before being added to the site, in this case one of T-Shirt Subway’s coveted Music T shirts. It is being donated as part of an inspirational project to raise awareness for the world’s 45 million refugees, fleeing war, famine and natural disaster, under the aegis of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.
The project was the brainchild of Norwegian Bjorn Heidenstrom, who is cycling from Oslo to South Africa via Europe and the African continent. His “volunteer PR and back-up” is Brit Steve Hall, currently resident in Spain. Football-mad Steve has been doing his own bit for the cause with the aid of his bike, having cycled to all 92 football league clubs in England and Wales between May and 23 September 2010. During his travels he collected scores of football shirts which have been added to the pile which will eventually become the world’s biggest ever shirt.
A spokesman for T-Shirt Subway said: “We are thrilled to be part of this fantastic consciousness-raising project for the world’s 45 million refugees.”
“We hope that ourMusic T shirt, which will eventually join so many others can play its small part in increasing awareness and improving the lot of these desperate people.”

So that’s yet another one for Bjorn to sew onto the mega-shirt back home in Norway. Sadly, I did not get a photo before it was sent but I am sure Bjorn will send one soonest.

If anybody has shirts they are holding onto, please do not hesitate to get them to us. ALL are welcome. Just shout for delivery addresses!

Wow, I started this update on Christmas Eve and it’s already a month on. Much seems to have happened but, sadly, one thing has not changed. Despite all our best efforts, the refugee crises around the world seem to become more and more acute. To be honest, I feel quite helpless but it’s not my

So, this is it. What the last two and a half years have been about – this is the Shirt in all its glory in Oslo. As you can see it take two cranes to lift it now. If your shirt is there – THANKS. If your shirt is not there – PLEASE get in touch.

There is lots happening in 2012 and over the next few days I will be commenting on the activities for this spring and summer. Hint? Poland and The Ukraine. Bigger hint? No, sorry…..coming soon!

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Breaking News

Spain will play France, Belarus, Georgia, Finland in the World Cup Qualifying round. They are in the ONLY group (I) that has only five teams. All the other eight teams had six teams competing. Psycholigically, will that aid or harm Spain’s chances of returning to Brazil to defend the World Cup they won last year in South Africa.

There are many who think that as defending champions they should automatically return but that is not the way FIFA ruled so they have eight games to battle through to confirm their place in Brazil.

¡Mucha Suerte! ¡A por ellos!

I won’t try to hide it. I am struggling to come to terms with the horrific atrocities in Oslo and Utøya.

I was at a torch procession in Halden, 120 kms south of Oslo and it was a very emotional evening for all.

This photo taken by Bjørn explains how the people of Norway feel.

I am will keep this very simple. Today I heard from Bjorn. He and his family are all well and were not involved in the Oslo atrocities. I had not heard from him for 48 hours since Friday. The relief was immense.

“TODAY WE ARE ALL NORWEGIANS!

As I said, the other day, it’s always good to be in touch with any Friends of The Shirt project. Today I got an email from the guys at Bloodrun. By complete coincidence this very week I was in Middlesbrough and was regally hosted at their impressive stadium and of course met Mark and John.

So, they have something very interesting:

“Now this is going to be one of those posts where you’ll keep reading, or you’ll switch off, but please bear with me, it’s all for a good cause!

I know not everyone who reads the blog is a football fan, and even those who are may not have the acquired taste that allows them to support Middlesbrough, however Simon Smith has managed to get his hands on a signed Middlesbrough Football Club football, complete with certificate of authentication (so you can be sure Jon hasn’t been set loose with a football and a Sharpie!) and has very generously agreed to sell it on eBay with all the proceeds being donated to keeping the Bloodbikes on the road.

So place a bid and stand a chance of bagging yourself your very own piece of local footballing history, would look great on the mantelpiece, or if you’re a Newcastle fan, give it to the kids to kick about in the garden with the dog!

In all seriousness though, thank you very much to Simon and MFC for being so generous and helpful to the cause.

Now all that’s left to say is Get Bidding!!”

Click here to view eBay page

BTW, if you win the auction you are “allowed” to donate it to “The Shirt”!