Former Club Doncaster Foundation staff member brings club & community together as part of Prostate United challenge

As the month of October kicks off, a number of staff and participants from both Club Doncaster & Club Doncaster Foundation are starting their Prostate United challenge once again, hoping to top the leaderboard of money raised for the second year in a row.

One staff member, whose name is one of the first on the list for signing up to the challenge is Greg Carroll, and he holds the charity very close to his heart. 

“My dad was diagnosed with Prostate Cancer back in 2018 and it was a pretty worrying time for our family. Luckily, my dad had the treatment and has had the all clear.

“Fortunately he was one of the lucky ones, but not every man is as lucky. Most people will know someone in one way or another who has gone through something like this.”

Prostate Cancer kills 1 man every 45 minutes, that’s half a football match. Last year, Greg jumped at the chance to get involved, alongside other staff within Doncaster Rovers.

“I was working at the Foundation this time last year, so it was great to get involved with the challenge and meet wider staff at the club, including those within the professional side. 

“Following the completion of the challenge last October, we came out on top of the fundraising table, across all the football clubs in both the EFL & Premier League, which was a huge achievement. 

“It’s fantastic to be part of the winning team, knowing you’ve raised money for such an important cause. I’m a competitive person when it comes to challenges like this, so knowing we raised more than double the amount that the team in second did, was another achievement in itself, especially how we all came together to push each other along during the month.”

Earlier this year, Greg, alongside Doncaster Rovers first team manager and assistant manager, Grant McCann & Cliff Byrne, were invited along to the cancer research centre at Nottingham University, to see where the money raised through the challenge goes and the hard work that the team at the university continuously put in to continue to work towards finding a cure.  

This year, the Club Doncaster team are wanting to go bigger and better, in the hopes of topping the money they raised in 2023 and finishing top of the leaderboard for the second year running.

“Last year, it was 5k a day, but this year, the team are aiming for 10k a day,” Greg said. 

“We raised just over £18,000 last year, so I’d love to see us raise over £20,000 this year. If we can raise even more overall, that would be amazing.  

“I’m all over the adverts for Prostate United, on Facebook and Instagram. So many people have messaged me after seeing me all over their socials, so hopefully that will have got even more people involved. It’s been quite funny having so many people message me about it, but it’s done it’s job in raising awareness and making it all a talking point, which is the main point.”

This year, following his move to his new role as Head of Academy Player Care within Rovers Academy, he wants to continue to work with the Foundation and building stronger links between the club and the charity and feels this challenge can help do just that. 

“I loved my time working with the Foundation and using my new role to build stronger links between us will help bring these both together, something I believe promoting the Prostate United challenge to as many people as possible will do. 

“I recently spoke about the challenge at the Fit Rovers Vets session, something I used to deliver for a long time, and a number of people have signed up to the challenge off the back of it. 

“During the month of October, I’m offering the academy parents the chance to get involved with a 5k run or walk around the lake with us on a Thursday evening, at 5:15pm, starting outside the hospitality entrance, while their children train, and we’re going to open that up to the Fit Rovers participants too, which will coincide with those already completing the challenge and help spur each other on each week. 

"We’re raising money for an incredibly important cause, but it’s also great for personal physical and mental wellbeing, getting out and exercising and I’m looking forward to seeing lots of people get involved in the challenge.

“It’s great to be a part of such a fantastic team and family here at Club Doncaster and I can’t wait to see the final result at the end of October.”

Interested in getting involved in the Thursday evening 5k with Greg and other participants of the challenge? Contact him at greg.carroll@clubdoncaster.co.uk.

The Foundation has also recently created a brand new Fit Rovers Cancer Support group, that is available for those that have recently had a cancer diagnosis or are undergoing or waiting for treatment, in remission, or wanting to support a friend or family member.

The sessions are free to attend each week and offer an array of activities during the two hours on a Monday morning. For more information on these sessions, please contact fitrovers@clubdoncasterfoundation.co.uk.