Football fans raise thousands for charity after visiting 92 grounds in 92 hours

Liam Bennett, 35, Martin Priestman, 35, Louis Christodoulou, 39, and Chris Jarvis, 40, visited 92 league football grounds in just 82 hours.

Their journey began in Sheffield at 5am on Friday, September 16, and finished at 3pm on Monday, September 19.

Liam, Louis and Chris met on the job at Parcel Force and decided to travel 2,533 miles to raise money for the National Autistic Society, Macmillan Cancer Support and Dementia UK.

Liam, who is from Middlesbrough and whose daughter is autistic, said: “We decided to do this because we are all interested in football and I have always been fascinated by football grounds.”

The group of friends travelled in a camper van they hired, stopping only at select locations where they were given permission to enter the grounds.

Liam said: "It was very tiring but the adrenaline pulled us through, it kept us going.”

He added: “We hardly slept. We got about four or five hours each night.”

Before setting off, the group contacted football clubs across the country to rally support.

Clubs donated game tickets to the group including Hartlepool United Football Club and Northampton Town Football Club.

Liam said: “Middlesbrough are giving us an award next week. We don’t know what it is yet but we are getting an award.”

Louis Christodoulou, from Hartlepool, hopes to give away two free Hartlepool United tickets to a deserving child with a connection to one of these charities.

For more information and to follow their story see https://www.facebook.com/groups/462315415734949/?ref=share_group_link.

Donations can be made at https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/liam-bennett-92clubs92hours?.