Millwall hosts Sky Sports presenter Jeff Stelling as he raises money for Prostate Cancer

Millwall will welcome television legend Jeff Stelling when he marches across the country for Prostate Cancer UK for a fourth time later this summer.

Inspired by the loss of a close friend and a football hero to the disease, he wants 400 football fans to join him.

The long-serving Sky Sports presenter has raised more than £1m for the leading men’s health charity walking across the UK in 2016, 2017 and 2019 – and returns in August and September to support Prostate Cancer UK in their quest to help stop prostate cancer being a killer.

This year he will be taking on four walking marathons in four regions, starting in the North East on August 30th, heading to Yorkshire on the 31st, before marching through Merseyside on September 1.

His route will conclude in the capital on September 4 with a route from Millwall’s home, The Den, to Tottenham Hotspur. He will also visit newly-crowned European champions Chelsea and Queens Park Rangers during the day, and by the finale he would have walked 100 miles in a week.

His aim? To fund lifesaving research to improve testing, treatments and care for those affected by the most common cancer in men.

Spurs will be a fitting finale on a day that Stelling pays tribute to club legend Ray Clemence, who sadly died last year after a long battle with prostate cancer.

You can sign up to take part now at prostatecanceruk.org/jeffsmarch

Jeff said: “Covid has had a horrific impact on lives across the UK, but prostate cancer has not gone away.

In fact it’s now more important than ever that we support men and their loved ones.

“One in eight men in the UK will get prostate cancer in their lifetime. I deal in stats, but that one still shocks me.

This is our Dads, partners, brothers, grandads, uncles and friends.

“That’s why I wear the Prostate Cancer UK ‘Man of Men’ badge. That’s why we’ve marched across the UK three times, helping raise more than £1m for crucial research to beat prostate cancer.

And that’s why I’d love you to join me this summer. As ever we’ll visit some iconic clubs and I’m hoping a few familiar faces will join me along the way.“

More than 1,200 football fans and supporters have joined Jeff in the past as he marched from Hartlepool to Wembley in 2016; Exeter to Newcastle in 2017 and all four UK nations in four days in 2019. In all he’s visited 89 football clubs and walked 750 miles.

Among those walkers was Yorkshireman Lloyd Pinder, who joined Jeff on his first ever walk in 2016, and was there to meet him at the finish line at Tottenham Hotspur in 2019, alongside former Tottenham, Liverpool and England goalkeeper Clemence. Both men died last year.

“Jeff added: “So much has changed since the end of my last walk in 2019. Two great friends met me on the finish line that day, are both sadly no longer with us, both victims of prostate cancer.

“Last year, we lost the great Ray Clemence to prostate cancer. A terrific goalkeeper and a terrific human being.

“I also lost my mate, Lloyd Pinder, to the disease a few months earlier. I met him on the second day of my very first march for Prostate Cancer UK up in Yorkshire.

This highlights once more what an indiscriminate disease this is, and it’s for men like Lloyd and Ray, their families and everyone affected by prostate cancer that we march again.”

Stephen Clemence, who followed in his father’s footsteps and played for Spurs, said: “My dad was a tireless campaigner for Prostate Cancer UK for many years, and it’s a cause that me and my family will continue to support.

So I’m so proud and grateful that Jeff Stelling will be marching to honour his memory this year and I’m so glad Spurs and Liverpool are involved. Me and my family are looking forward to supporting his efforts.

“Prostate cancer is a devastating disease. It was something my dad suffered with for more than a decade and a half. We are an incredibly close family, and it was so hard for all of us see him suffer, but he never moaned, never complained. He was the strongest man I’ve ever known.

“Jeff has been so great at galvanising the football community across the UK. He wears the badge every week, but by walking multiple marathons for the cause he continues to go the extra mile too. Money raised will support men like my dad, and their families, so we’re all so grateful to him and all the people signing  up. Its shaping up to be a great event.”

Prostate Cancer UK Chief Executive Angela Culhane, who has walked more than 180 miles alongside Stelling across his previous three March for Men events, and will join him again this year, said: “Since 2016 Jeff has selflessly pushed himself to the absolute limit to aid our quest to make prostate cancer a disease that no longer wrecks lives, and we’re delighted and excited that he will spearhead another epic walking challenge.

“Thanks to Jeff and thousands of others who have embraced these mega marches, we have raised a game- changing sum of money and made massive progress in our goal to fund better research which will ultimately save more lives.

“Lloyd Pinder and Ray Clemence are just two examples, of those that have helped greatly in that time. Two men with totally different backgrounds, but one underlying connection, prostate cancer.

I remember meeting both at the finish line in September 2019. They were part of the fabric of Prostate Cancer UK, and we were all devastated to lose them both to this disease last year.

“We want to see a world where men’s lives are not limited by prostate cancer and we know men and their loved ones feel the same. Together we can stop men dying, and we thank Jeff for signing up once more and look forward to him and the football community helping us achieve that goal.”

When the future is uncertain and the choices are tough, we stand for men with prostate cancer, and funds raised by our supporters will help shape that pioneering research that will help us change the game for men. 400 fans. 4 days. 4 marathons. 1 cause.

Visit prostatecanceruk.org/jeffsmarch to get involved.