A NORTHSIDE man got his name in the Guinness Book of Records after taking part in the longest five-a-side soccer match ever.
Steven White, from Glasnevin, was a member of the 16-strong Sodexo Ireland team who played a 53-hour competitive match to raise funds for Barnardos, Irish Cancer Society and St Vincent de Paul. The three Irish charities are supported under Sodexo’s global Stop Hunger campaign.
The match, which was played in June in Portlaoise, has only now been verified by Guinness World Records following a detailed submission of supporting evidence in print and on video.
The Sodexo Ireland teams beat the existing record of 43 hours by a comfortable margin, despite two players dropping out due to injury early on. They also beat the unofficial world record of 52 hours which was set in the UK last year but never verified.
Steven was the only Northsider to take part in the match which finished 695-601.
“According to Guinness World Record rules, we were only allowed a two-hour break after every four hours of playing,
? said Steven.
“We also had to stay on the sidelines and if you wanted to rest, you had to bring your sleeping bags.
“We’re lucky in that we had a great support team of over 100 work colleagues during the weekend who kept us going when it got tough in the early hours of the morning after 40 odd hours on our feet. They clapped for every goal scored.
?
Steven added:
“We were delighted to have achieved it and it would be fantastic if we hit our final goal of
?¬20,000 for the three charities.
?