‘It matters because of the cause’: the voices behind Game4Hope at Goodison Park
From Finch Farm to the Goodison pitch, I spoke to 14 footballers and famous faces for The Football Historian about returning to Merseyside, their favourite memories and the reason they had come together.
By Peter Kenny Jones | The Football Historian
There are plenty of questions you want to ask when you find yourself surrounded by footballers you grew up watching. Their best goal. Their favourite teammate. What it feels like to walk back out at Goodison Park.
Over two days covering Game4Hope, I had the chance to ask all of those sorts of questions. But I wanted to start each conversation with the reason everyone was there.
At Finch Farm, Robert Earnshaw gave me an answer that stayed with me throughout the weekend.
“We play football, it’s easy to say yes to the football,” he said. “But it matters because of the cause.”
The inaugural Game4Hope brought Everton and Liverpool legends together in a Merseyside XI against a Rest of the World side at Goodison on Saturday 26 September. Supporting Shelter and Everton in the Community, the event raised awareness and funds to help tackle homelessness across Merseyside and beyond.
For those taking part, that purpose was often the first thing they wanted to discuss.
Tim Cahill described the charitable work as “probably the main reason why I’m here”. He recalled the work Everton in the Community had been doing during his own time at the club: school visits, hospitals, grassroots football and education programmes.
“It’s something that shouldn’t be an obligation,” he told me. “It should be something that everyone wants to be a part of.”
Coming back offered him the chance to catch up with former teammates, coaches and staff. His description of the opportunity was simple: “It’s a privilege to be here.”
Molly McCann brought a particularly personal perspective. Having previously taken part in a sleepout at Goodison, she already had an experience to draw on when we spoke about the cause.
“That was hard,” she said. “That was a real eye-opener of what people in our city, in our community, in our country have to go through.”
She also wanted people to think about how someone ends up needing support.
“The system fails sometimes,” she said.
Her answer was a reminder of what these events can achieve beyond the money raised: getting people to stop, listen and think about circumstances they may never have experienced themselves.
Tony Bellew was equally clear about wanting to support the effort to raise awareness of homelessness and the problems people face across the country.
“I’m more than happy to be a part of it,” he said.
There was still room for a bit of Everton debate. When I asked for his five greatest Everton players, Bellew found a useful way around the danger of offending anyone he might bump into: leave a place available and tell them, “You were the fifth.”
Those lighter moments were part of the appeal of being at training. The cameras were there to capture a charity event, but the conversations also felt like a reunion.
Fabrice Muamba was preparing to contribute from the touchline as one of the coaches. He spoke about being pleased that his contribution could help, and about catching up with people he had not seen for a while.
Yakubu, in particular, had been keeping him entertained.
“When you sit down with him, he’s just a pure joker,” Muamba told me. “He just loves to have a laugh and a joke.”
By matchday, the setting gave those reunions another dimension. Goodison carries memories for visiting players as well as those who called it home, and that came through repeatedly in my interviews.
“Coming back to the Grand Old Lady is always magnificent,” Peter Reid told me.
For The Football Historian, being able to ask Reid about his best goal while standing at Goodison was an opportunity I could hardly pass up. He chose his chest control and right-foot volley against Tottenham, past Ray Clemence, which took Everton to the top of the league.
“Doesn’t get any better,” he said.
Louis Saha also spoke about the pleasure of returning and seeing the names assembled on the pitch.
“Unfortunately I’m not in the best shape, but I’m very happy to be here,” he said.
Asked about his own best goal, he went back to his first as a professional at Metz, remembering the involvement of Robert Pires. These conversations could take you from a charity match on Merseyside to the beginning of someone’s footballing life in a matter of seconds.
Yakubu’s reaction was rooted in the scene around him.
“Look at the fans, it’s amazing,” he told me. “To be here today is so special.”
Jermaine Beckford explained just how quickly he had accepted the invitation.
“There was no hesitation,” he said. “I love this place. I’m glad to be back.”
He was also able to capture something any football supporter could understand. Sharing a pitch with these players brought out the fan in him, too.
“I used to pretend that I was Rivaldo,” he told me, recalling attempts to recreate the Brazilian’s spectacular goals at home.
“To be able to grace the pitch” with those footballing icons, he said, was “a dream come true”.
I managed to get a photograph with Rivaldo on the Goodison pitch myself. That is one I will be keeping. Hearing Beckford speak about him was a reminder that the excitement does not disappear just because you have had a professional career of your own.
The attachment to Merseyside also extended to players whose time here had been comparatively short.
“Even though I was only in the city for one season at Liverpool, it’s a special place, isn’t it?” Charlie Adam said.
He spoke about the togetherness he associated with the city and the pleasure of returning for an occasion like this. A combined Merseyside team gave that idea a very visible expression.
Kola Bokinni needed little persuading either.
“I said yes before they even asked me,” he told me.
With his family there, he was enjoying the occasion. Our conversation also took in Steven Gerrard and a Champions League final compelling enough to make him stop playing Championship Manager. Football has a habit of providing a shared reference point, whatever someone does for a living.
Eric Djemba-Djemba brought the conversation back to why he makes time for charity events.
“We never know what could happen to you, to your family,” he said.
Wes Morgan echoed the urgency of helping people who are struggling.
“We see a lot of homelessness,” he told me. “We see a lot of people struggling and deprived.”
That was the thread running through these interviews. The famous names and the familiar stadium brought people together. The conversations kept returning to those who needed the support.
David James described accepting the invitation as “a straightaway yes”. He thanked those who had come, watched and donated, stressing that “every penny is needed”.
“People shouldn’t be in that position,” he said.
He also expressed a hope that the entertainment would encourage people to “continue the conversation”.
That feels like the right challenge to take away from Game4Hope. I left with football stories, photographs and interviews I will be sharing for a long time. Alongside them, I have the words of people who wanted the attention to reach further than the pitch.
Earnshaw’s answer from Finch Farm still says it best: “It matters because of the cause.”
Find out more about the organisations supported by Game4Hope:
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