How Marcus Made A Difference

The Manchester United striker single-handedly forced the UK government to help needy children

- Dennis Cavernelis

The dull ache of an empty belly is something he’ll never forget. He may earn £200 000 (R4,3 million) a week, live in a mansion and have a fleet of luxury cars, but it wasn’t that long ago that Marcus Rashford would wake up not knowing if he and his brothers and sisters would eat that day.

And it’s these memories that spurred the Manchester United and England striker to do something few multimillionaire footballers have ever done: use his star power to force the UK government to back down on a controversial decision.

After intense pressure by Rashford, the powers that be will continue feeding 1,3 million needy children during the long UK summer school holiday.

He also raised £20m (R430m) with the charity FareShare to supply three million meals to vulnerable people across the UK. Rashford, you could say, put his money where kids’ mouths are.

It all started when British health secretary Matt Hancock urged English Premier League footballers to “make a contribution” and “play their part” to help people struggling during the coronavirus crisis.

“Hancock was happy to pit ‘ordinary’ people against the stereotype of the overpaid, greedy footballer,” CNN reports. Less than two months later Rashford had turned the tables on the British government, which had announced its school-feeding scheme would come to an end when schools broke up.