The men who walked from Anfield to Old Trafford in 2021 and created the ‘World’s Rudest Pub Crawl’ in Strava art in 2022, in the name of men’s health and suicide prevention, have announced their latest stunt.
This year, to mark Movember, the ten friends are walking nearly 40km and visiting as many ball sport venues as they can along the way, from the more obscure to the mainstream, to remind everyone to ‘never ignore your balls’.
On 4th November, the mates will trek across Manchester, stopping to play a variety of ball sports en route, including at a petanque club in Stretford, a golf club, tennis club, rugby club, squash centre, basketball centre, bowling alley and a snooker club.
The group are urging lesser-known ball sport clubs to get in touch so that they can help spread the word about men’s health amongst men of all ages and interests.
Movember ambassador and walk leader, George Frewer, says: “This year we want to remind everyone that testicular cancer and suicide don’t discriminate. Yes, there are high profile cases but these issues are affecting normal men, up and down the country, every single day, but there is stuff we can do to prevent it.
“Whether you’re a football fan, a keen golfer, or you’re into tennis, snooker or boules; we should all be checking our balls and we can all help to remove the stigma around men’s mental health to help prevent suicide.”
Donning their Movember moustaches and full kits of their favourite ball sports and carrying as many balls as possible in backpacks to add to the challenge, the walkers will cover a combined 350km, playing tennis, squash, boules, and snooker as they go, spreading the message: All balls matter! Every shape and size! Let’s get in the habit of checking our balls – maybe after your ball sport each week.”
In recent years, the group (George, Mark Bartlem, Oliver Rowley, Stephen Crow, Matt Bradley, Matt Carty, Phil Horne, Matt Warrington and Simon Saffidine) have got together in November to support the annual national Movember campaign that highlights suicide rates among men and testicular cancer statistics.
George and Mark, Manchester United and Liverpool FC fans respectively, put their football rivalry aside to lead a walk from Anfield to Old Trafford in 2021 in the ‘tache of two cities’ walk. Covering 60km to raise awareness of the one man who dies by suicide every 60 seconds across the world, their football-themed walk started a theme of bringing the mental health conversation into typically masculine environments.
Last year, the friends from Manchester walked a 40km ‘Cock and Ball Story’ route across the city on a pub crawl that spelt out ‘Movember’ and drew a rude image in GPS art.
Fellow walker Mark Bartlem continued: “Our intention is to grab people’s attention and raise awareness of issues that aren’t talked about enough amongst men. We’re having some fun with it because we want people to take notice.
“Obviously the issue of suicide is complex but what we do know is that talking and creating a sense of community can really help reduce the risk. Whether it’s at the footie, over a game of snooker, or at the golf club, sporting environments are a great place to normalise this idea that men can open up and be vulnerable.”
You can add your sports club to the roster of clubs by contacting George
Share page 
(1).png)
