12:00pm Friday 10th September 2010
By Andrew Ffrench
OXFORD United supporter Simon Lynes has always enjoyed a good kickaround.
But even the most dedicated football fan would think twice about playing a game lasting 57 hours.
Mr Lynes, 25, of Osney Lane, West Oxford, masterminded the fundraiser at the weekend raising an estimated £10,000 for the Meningitis Trust.
He organised the event in memory of a university friend who died from the disease.
The 18-a-side game at Warwick University is thought to have smashed the previous world record of 42 hours and five minutes for the longest continuous game of football.
And it ended with a score that would put a cricket test match to shame – Mr Lynes’s Leeds Badgers trounced Warwick Wolves 425 to 354.
Mr Lynes, who was at United’s victorious play-off game at Wembley in May, said: “I first studied at Leeds University and three years ago my friend Jamie Burdett died from meningitis.
“After he died I wanted to do something to raise money in his memory and came up with this crazy idea.”
Last April, Mr Lynes, a medical student and a former pupil of Bartholomew School in Eynsham, took part in a similar record-breaking match lasting 36 hours.
He added: “At the weekend there were seven substitutes per side, with players swapping over from time to time so that they didn’t have to spend too long on the pitch.
“Players stayed on the pitch for five-and-half hours and then took a three-and-a-half hour break.
“Throughout the game there were always players willing to chase the ball but there were some players who could hardly walk by the end of it.
“I played for a total of 34 hours and I’m delighted that we managed to play for so long and raised thousands of pounds for the trust at the same time.” Liverpool soccer legend Ian Rush, who contracted the disease aged five, and is an ambassador for the Meningitis Trust, hailed Mr Lynes’s efforts.
He said: “This is a fantastic achievement for English football and the Meningitis Trust.
“I am so proud that these guys are raising awareness of this awful disease and are also raising vital funds to help the trust to continue its much-needed work.”
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