Over-50s Muratti raises money for Cheshire Homes

Monday 20 May 2019

Hundreds of people turned out to see Matt Le Tissier pull his Guernsey shirt back on in aid of the Channel Island Cheshire Homes.

The second annual Over-50s Muratti took place in Guernsey after its debut in Jersey last year. The two islands went head-to-head at the Vale Rec home field - where Matt played as a boy before being signed by Southampton.

Despite an appearance from ‘Le God’, the home team failed to retain the trophy losing 1-0.

“1985 was the last time I played in a Muratti, so 34 years is a long time,” said Matt.

The former midfielder visited the Guernsey Cheshire Home ahead of the match to learn more about the charity he was supporting and was impressed by what he saw: “It’s fantastic to see the game is raising money to help out this place, which is a fantastic place! I’ve only been here 25 minutes but I can already feel what a beautiful atmosphere there is in here and what a lovely, happy place this is.”

Pictured: The over-50s Muratti trophy which has gone home with the Jersey team.

The money raised will be shared between both the Guernsey Cheshire Home and its Jersey counterpart.

“The idea that we’ve created the superset muratti is a great leap forward because people participate in sport for much longer than perhaps 20 or 30 years ago,” said Chair of the Guernsey charity Robert Shepherd.

“The support of someone like Matt Le Tissier to come and play and to take time out to come and visit the home, it reaffirms for us and those involved in the home the importance the home has in the life of Guernsey. It’s a really important institution for our residents but actually for the people of Guernsey I think it shows a great commitment to the life of the home.”

The residents were pleased to meet Matt and some were able to go down to the Corbert Field and watch the match. Colin was among them and said it was “lovely” to meet the player and have his photo taken with him.

Great to see @valerecofficial so full tonight for the return of @mattletiss7 as he proudly pulled on the Guernsey shirt to face Jersey in the over 50s #Muratti, raising money for the Home. Thank you to the hundreds that turned out and @andydovey for the photos. ???? #LoveGuernsey pic.twitter.com/gKbNSDq25T

— Gsy Cheshire Home (@cheshiregsy) May 17, 2019

Colin was full of praises for the home and looking forward to a holiday in Jersey this week: “[I’m] going to see an ABBA tribute band and I’m also going to the circus as well!”

“The main cost of the home is keeping it running,” added Mr Shepherd. “The residents do have outings and we have vans to run and we arrange holidays for residents to go up to England or Jersey. 

“Our philosophy is to provide excellent care for the physically disabled in as close to a home environment as possible. That takes keeping the infrastructure right, paying carers, paying nurses and hopefully we provide a really good standard of care.”

Pictured top: Matt Le Tissier with residents and staff at the Guernsey Cheshire Home.