Luton legend Mick Harford is enduring his “toughest fight” as he launches a new campaign against prostate cancer.
Harford, 64, who was one of football’s most fearsome strikers, is now two years into his own battle against the disease and is helping raise awareness as he urges fans to join Prostate FC.
Former Luton hardman Harford has made a powerful new film which also features the club’s matchday hospitality host Les Turton who was also diagnosed with prostate cancer.
The film will be shown on Jeff Stelling’s brilliant Soccer Saturday show in an effort to get more men to get themselves checked and also to talk more openly about the disease which kills one man every 45 minutes in this country.
Harford is undergoing a three-year course of treatment after being diagnosed more than two years ago. Staying involved at Luton - he has been assistant boss, manager and now scouting and recruitment - as well as helping other sufferers has helped in his battle.
Harford said: “I was brave, not hard. I would go places, get hurt putting my head in where others wouldn’t. But I was brave, I wasn’t hard. I’m trying to be brave now with this fight while also helping other people by getting the word out. It’s a tough fight, it’s my toughest fight yet. But I will get through it.
“The treatment is tough, lots of side effects from the medication. Radiotherapy is a tough gig and its every day for 40 days, into London every day and it’s hard. But there’s a lot of people worse off than me and it’s important to keep fighting, keep scrapping and staying positive.
“I’m so lucky to be working at a great football club, doing a job that I love and being surrounded by young, enthusiastic players. Being around the club, being amongst the players has been massive for me.”
Sky host Stelling has championed the Prostate Cancer campaign with his fund-raising walks and wearing his badge on the show every week.
That has raised awareness for thousands of men but also having someone for support is equally important and the film highlights Harford’s support for lifelong Luton fan Turton who underwent surgery last year.
Turton said: “It was fantastic to speak to Mick because, no matter how good the doctors and nurses were, nothing beats talking to someone with a shared experience.” Video here:
To join Mick and Les at Prostate FC visit prostatecanceruk.org/prostatefc
Seven years of Infantino
Sunday marks seven years since Gianni Infantino took charge as FIFA president.
Clearly, his reign has included major controversies but arguably the biggest single success has been the growth and expansion of women’s football on a global scale.
The 2019 World Cup was a game changer with over 1.1m fans in the stadiums and a TV audience of more than 1 billion and this summer’s tournament promises to be even bigger.
Infantino will probably point to the expansion of the men’s World Cup, appointment of Arsene Wenger to head up a Talent Development scheme and reforms in the agent world.
But the women’s game has perhaps been the biggest success under Infantino and this summer will have 32 teams, from six confederations played across two different countries. That should be viewed as a big success.
Sullivan's surprise
One of the biggest critics of football’s new independent regulator has been West Ham owner David Sullivan.
Sullivan described it as a “terrible idea” and said: “The government are terrible at running everything. Look at the mess this country is in. We pay the highest taxes ever for the worst service from the worst government that I’ve seen in my lifetime.”
His comments were a bit surprising considering that West Ham donated £12,500 to the Conservative Party in 2016 which prompted the Taxpayers’ Alliance to voice “serious questions” over the club’s “dubious stadium deal.”
It also prompted a backlash from Labour MPs who questioned why money from fans and sponsors was being used as the donation to the Tories came from club coffers rather than individual directors.
Henry's Chelsea chance
There is always brilliant banter in the studio in CBS Sports’ coverage of the Champions League.
This week, Arsenal legend Thierry Henry revealed he could have gone to a major rival but would never do the dirty on the Gunners.
Kate Abdo guessed Tottenham, Jamie Carragher went Manchester United but way back when it was reported 20 years ago that Chelsea tried to sign Henry for £50m when Roman Abramovich first took over.
And yet Henry turned them down.
