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Boothferry Park, Sunday 13th April 2003
Teams representing national electricity companies Powergen and Npower competed in a charity football match at Boothferry Park two weeks ago to help raise money for Multiple Sclerosis sufferer Geoff White, who is the father of the Powergen team captain, Mike White.
With a trophy donated by Boothferry Trophies on Spring Bank, the teams squared off in the first (but hopefully not last) meeting for the Geoff White Challenge Trophy.
Geoff was diagnosed with Chronic Progressive MS in 1989 and whilst he maintains a very strong mental attitude, has seen his physical condition deteriorate over the years to the point that he is now wheelchair bound. As a result of this, it has become increasingly difficult for him to leave the house during the week when other family members aren't available as he struggles to get out of his chair and into the car. To help with this, Geoff requires a car hoist (costing in excess of £1,500) to assist with this and would allow him more freedom when help is not readily available.
In addition, money raised by the players via MS Society sponsorship forms will be donated directly to the local MS Society funds.
Mike, who works for Kingston incontact (the outsourced call centre division of Kingston Communications) but is a Sales Team Manager on the Powergen campaign within incontact, decided to set-up a match between the two 'rival' organisations to help raise funds for the equipment and it took place in front of a very vocal and supportive crowd at the former 'footballing temple' that is Boothferry Park.
A very entertaining game saw Npower take the honours with a 2-0 victory. The crowd went home happy after witnessing an exciting match that was conducted in the spirit of the day.
After the game, a post-match party had been set-up in the Sports Bar of the Kingston Communications Stadium, where live music was provided by Mike's wife, Wendy Greer, who is
well-known on the Hull & District entertainment circuit. In addition, numerous raffle prizes were drawn after generous donations by many of the city's businesses to help with the fundraising efforts. Finally, the Geoff White Challenge Trophy was presented to Npower captain, Kevin Longbone (who played a big part in helping Mike pull this event together) by Geoff himself, much to the delight of Kev and his teammates!
As much as it was a disappointing scoreline for Mike and the rest of the Powergen team as it was satisfying for the Npower lads, all agreed that it was a day to remember and they will always have the memory that regardless of what becomes of Boothferry Park in the future, they can always tell people about the day they played on that famous pitch!
Next aim for Mike and the boys.......the KC Stadium!
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