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Sport

03rd Jun 2016

A former League of Ireland footballer is cycling to the Euros for charity

JOE

Most Irish football fans will make their way to France next week by plane or by ferry, but this man’s mode of transport might take him a bit longer.

Gavin Fahy, who played for Cabinteely in the League of Ireland, is cycling to Euro 2016 all in the name of charity.

Gavin told JOE that he is leaving from Rosslare on June 4 and plans to cycle throughout France as he follows the Boys in Green. Where’s his final destination? Lyon at the end of the month.

“I’ll arrive in Cherbourg on June 5,” he said.

“I will be cycling unsupported from Cherbourg to Paris and arrive for Ireland’s opening fixture. I will then cycle as much as possible to our second fixture in Bordeaux and our third fixture in Lille. I plan to follow the team as long as they are there.”

The 21-year-old said that the he decided to do the cycle after previous plans fell through.

Gavin

“The idea originally came from trying to organise a camper van trip to the Euro’s with a group of friends without any success. So that’s when I decided that I’d do it myself and take myself there, not having to rely on anyone.” He said.

He explained that although he hasn’t done a huge amount of training, he is looking forward to the challenge.

“I’ve been trying to prep myself both physically and mentally over the last couple of months and I think that I’m in a pretty good place. I wouldn’t say I’m nervous. I’m excited by the not knowing, I know my starting point and different destinations in France but the rest is all a mystery.”

“The cycle will take approximately 2,500km and I don’t even have tickets!” he said.

Gavin is raising money for streetfootballworld, an organisation who use the sport as a positive social tool. He will meet with the charity in Lyon at the streetfootballworld Festival ’16, which is an official Euro 2016 tournament taking place from June 28 to July 7.

This tournament will bring together 500 boys and girls from disadvantaged backgrounds to take part in educational workshops, cultural exchanges and much more, including a tournament at the end of the event to see how the week’s worth of learning will effect how they play football together.

The former League of Ireland player said that he discovered the charity by accident. “I love the work that they’re doing through football. I share many views with them.”

“I love to play street football, especially when I travel but it’s sometimes difficult to find a game when you’re in another country so I just googled “street football” and ended up finding them. I just got in touch about my idea for this trip and we’ve been in touch ever since.” He said.

Gavin said that he’s hopeful about Irelands chances in the Euros.

“I love being the underdog. I think we have a great opportunity to get out of the group and once you’re out and in the knockout rounds it’s just about who performs better on the day so yes I’m hopeful but as I said before it’s the not knowing that gets me excited.” He said.

You can follow Gavin’s journey of Facebook and sponsor him of his gofundme page.