Stan Bowles Alzheimer’s Research UK Fundraiser

Football fans are oft labelled as tribal, only becoming mentioned in the media generally in a negative light. Therefore, it is a pleasure to be able to write about a positive story, where fans of one club are being active in the support of another team’s once legendary player.

Step forward the Harrogate Branch of the Leeds United Supporters Club (LUSC), who are now looking to raise funds and awareness of Alzheimer’s and in particular the plight of ex-QPR and England international Stan Bowles.

Dave Rowson a former secretary of the branch founded in 1982 takes up the story of how this link came about.

“At the Leeds away game at Loftus Road back in January 2020, as a bit of fun we bought a Stan Bowles calendar which was being sold due to his suffering with Alzheimer’s.

It is a condition in footballers that is getting more media attention with the deaths of player such as Jeff Astle and Nobby Stiles. This has struck Leeds as well with legends such as Jack Charlton, Gordon McQueen and Frank Worthington falling victim to this awful disease.

As a result, we are hoping to run a ‘picture with Stan’ event at Elland Road, which will involve people having a photo with the Stan Bowles calendar, making a donation to Alzheimer’s Research, with the pictures uploaded to the @StanBowlesHarrogateLUSC Facebook site. Currently we are waiting for the club (Leeds United) to give the thumbs up for 23rd May, if not it will be held next season.

Additionally I will be making a donation from the sales of my book We’re not Leeds, We ARE Leeds (details here) published in April and I am also going to organise a charity bowls competition in the summer.”

More details will be provided when the events have been confirmed.

For more details about the disease Alzheimer’s Society – United Against Dementia

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Magazine Review: Football Masters (Issue 2) edited by Andrew Palmer

Cover of Issue 2

Andrew Palmer went to his first football match at Cray Wanderers in 1965 aged 6 and saw his first professional match at the Valley, the home of Charlton Athletic, in 1968. After watching live football for over 50 years, he was also involved with football publishing Video/DVD for over 25 years. Palmer is a football man with the games running through his veins.

Having recuperated from a Heart Transplant, his passion for the planets most popular sport drove him to produce this digital magazine, Football Masters, which he hopes his audience will “enjoy, looking back at the time before the Premiership when football seemed to be much closer to the fans.”

With a number of publications on the streets dealing with a retro look at the game, some may question whether there is there room in the market for another. However, where this digital version works over a standard magazine, is that there are links within the stories to videos to bring the articles to life. So, in this edition links take the reader to see players such as Stan Bowles, Pele, Garrincha and Colin Bell in their prime as well as match action from 1969 Fairs Cup winners Newcastle United, the FA Cup winners of 1959, Nottingham Forest and Arsenal in the 1970s.

The content in this reviewed edition (No: 2), comes from a number of prominent bloggers and journalists with fifteen articles spread over its 52 pages. The highlights as a reader in this copy were the articles on Pele’s time in the USA, the Colin Bell feature and the guide to Football Magazines.

As with any magazine of this type, not all the articles hit the mark, but for those who want a reminder of the game before sponsored shirts, a time when live games didn’t fill every minute of your waking day and players would be seen down the local pub with fans, this will appeal.

If there is a negative, then it would be in relation to the proofreading of the content, which if more thorough, would have made for a tighter and cleaner read.

A free subscription can be obtained from the following site: www, footballmastersmag.weebly.com

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