Man Utd striker Marcus Rashford proves he is a credit to the country with powerful letter to MPs and by raising £20m - 7M sport

Man Utd striker Marcus Rashford proves he is a credit to the country with powerful letter to MPs and by raising £20m



Posted Tuesday, June 16, 2020 by Thesun.co.uk

IF you haven’t already done so, I would urge you to read every word of the open letter Marcus Rashford sent to MPs on Sunday.

I don’t have enough space here to quote Rashford extensively and do his words full justice but it is the most extraordinarily powerful message I’ve ever heard from an England footballer.

Man Utd striker Marcus Rashford proves he is a credit to the country with powerful letter to MPs and by raising £20m
Marcus Rashford made an emotional plea to MPs to protect vulnerable children

We already knew the Manchester United forward, 22, had helped raise £20million for the anti-hunger charity FareShare to provide THREE MILLION meals to some of our poorest children.

And Rashford had already spoken about his own background as one of five children brought up by a hard-working single mother who had to rely on free school meals and food banks to feed her family.

Now he has written to MPs, asking them to perform a U-turn on the policy of cancelling a food voucher scheme, which helps feed vulnerable children, during the school summer holidays.

Rashford’s words are personal, heartfelt and hugely moving.

They will move people to think. They will move people to act.

Hopefully, they might force MPs to bring about a change of heart in PM Boris Johnson, who swiftly rejected Rashford’s call yesterday, while patting him on the head for ‘using his profile in a positive way’.

Amid this fog of seething national resentment, they might even move people — inside and outside of Parliament — to prioritise the survival of living, breathing human beings rather than statues.

I was left wondering what Health Secretary Matt Hancock thought about Rashford’s words, after his crass outburst early on in the coronavirus crisis.

Then Hancock said: “Given the sacrifices people are making, including some of my colleagues in the NHS, who have made the ultimate sacrifice and gone into work and caught the disease and have sadly died, I think the first thing Premier League footballers can do is make a contribution; take a pay-cut and play their part.”

Well Rashford has more than played his part in alleviating some of the horrors of this crisis and has now aimed sharp focus on a cruel policy of his Government.

Hancock had played to the lazy stereotype of footballers — which many of us have been guilty of peddling — that many are flashy, jumped-up rich kids who have forgotten their roots.

Rashford has trashed all of that.

In his letter, Rashford mentioned that he’d received a tweet from an MP stating: “This is why there is a benefit system.”

How deeply patronising to aim that comment at a young man who grew up relying on benefits.

As Rashford stated: “Rest assured, I am fully aware of the Universal Credit scheme and . . .  that the majority of families applying are experiencing five-week delays.”

Among many other withering comments, Rashford also wrote: “I’ve read tweets where some have placed blame on parents for having children they ‘can’t afford’. That same finger could have been pointed at my mum, yet I grew up in a loving and caring environment.”

I also wondered what the far-right toerags who call themselves the ‘Democratic Football Lads Alliance’, who rioted in London on Saturday, thought of Rashford’s words — if they are even capable of reading.

Because those ‘Football Lads’ do not speak for supporters nor for the diverse, inclusive, unifying game they follow.

Rashford’s is the authentic voice of his sport — not the gruntings of neo-cavemen who have more words tattooed on their thick necks than they have ever read in a book.

Then I wondered what the Glazer family who own United think about an articulate young employee speaking up for the Black Lives Matter movement and highlighting the horrifying statistic that 45 per cent of BAME kids in Britain are in poverty.

Because the Glazers have donated large sums to fund Donald Trump.

Might they read Rashford’s words and reconsider their politics?

In a different way, I also wonder what Sir Alex Ferguson thinks of Rashford’s outspoken campaigning.

Fergie would agree wholeheartedly with Rashford’s political sentiments, yet had the Scot still been United manager, we would never have heard the player express them.

Because he regularly gagged his players from public speech — perhaps the worst example of a widespread culture of paranoia in Premier League football, and at the FA, which was desperate to stop players talking in anything other than extreme blanditudes.

We in the media assumed the players hated all that. Over the last few years, as men like Raheem Sterling, Danny Rose and Rashford have spoken out about racism, mental health and social inequality, we know that was true.

Rashford wrote: “You could fill Wembley stadium more than twice with kids who have had to skip meals during lockdown due to their families being unable to access food. Ten years ago, I would have been one of those children, and you would never have heard my voice and seen my determination to become part of the solution.”

It is impossible for clubs to gag their players now that they have recognised their power as communicators.

And it is to Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s credit that United’s current manager is fully behind Rashford’s campaigning.

I also wondered what Jeremy Corbyn thinks of Rashford’s words.

The defeated Labour leader is probably delusional enough to regard them as a vindication, rather than as a failure, of his own leadership.

Labour campaigned at the last election about the issues Rashford is raising but Corbyn was too incompetent and pig-headed to unite his party and get the message across.

Rashford should be making all of us think — left, right and centre.

He is a credit to his family, his club, his game and his country. Please read his words. Every one of them.



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