Sheffield police officers to take to the road for football charity challenge with a twist

Football, sunshine and beers watching your favourite team secure all three points on the road is the stuff of dreams for most fans.

But one group of Sheffield police officers are making the final preparations for a trip of their own to previously unvisited stadia as they aim to visit all 92 professional football grounds in the country in the same number of hours.

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Friends Det Insp Jamie Henderson, Sgt Scott Sarson and PC James Thorpe will leave Barnsley’s Oakwell Stadium at 8am on Friday, July 12 before taking in another 90 Football League and Premier League grounds around the country and, hopefully, arriving back at Sheffield United’s Bramall Lane at around 4pm on Tuesday, July 16.

Jamie said: “We are three friends as well as three cops and we usually go away each summer and have a bit of a lads’ weekend.

“This year we thought we would do something UK-based and do something for charity. We came up with the idea of doing all of the football grounds because we’re all avid fans.”

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Jamie said the group had decided to raise money for the Children’s Hospital Charity, where Scott’s daughter Lydia was treated.

He added: “Scott’s daughter Lydia was born with a heart defect and she was in and out of the children’s hospital and had surgery in Leeds so we looked at what they were currently doing.

“We found they had got an appeal for the cancer and leukaemia ward and were trying to get £4.75 million. We just said: ‘We are all cops in Sheffield and we all live and work here so should support it’.”

Scott, a Sheffield Wednesday fan; James, a Blade and Tottenham Hotspur fan Jamie, have already drawn more htan £5,000 in donations and have contacted every one of the 92 clubs they will be visiting.

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Jamie said they would split the driving as they clock up more than 2,400 miles and will opt for two wheels rather than four around London and travel 65 miles on bikes.

The group will be travelling in a minibus from the South Yorkshire Police Sports and Social Club and will also be eating and sleeping in it as part of the journey.

Jamie added: “It’s four more sleeps now until we start and I think we are just about ready to go. We are just waiting for the last few sponsors to get back in touch.

“We are all dead excited about it now. It's been six months leading up to this and we just can’t wait for Friday.”

The group are also hoping to take photographs at each of the grounds and Jamie said they were looking for businesses to sponsor each of the photographs.

For more information on their trip or to donate visit www.justgiving.com/fundraising/ninetytwo-in-92.