By John Ratomski and Sam Spong 

Tuesday night’s Carabao Cup game between West Ham and Charlton at the London Stadium should have brought together two football foodbank friends John Ratomski and Sam Spong, who run their respective club foodbank collections. Sadly the absence of spectators at present means that they have to look at alternative ways of collecting for their local foodbanks.

John Ratomski from Irons Supporting Foodbanks explained: ‘We began collecting at home games at the end of December and Sam was one of our volunteers when Charlton weren’t playing. The efforts of our fans were making a difference to Newham Foodbank until lockdown. Until then we were collecting an average of £700 in food and cash donations but that suddenly stopped. We’ve had to hit social media to get the message out about donating, and in that time demand at Newham has trebled. London Stadium DJ Russ Budden has organised weekly online game shows and raffles which have boosted funds to buy more supplies. Two weeks ago they even ran out of tinned fish, tinned
meat and rice.

There has been support from the West Ham UNited Foundation and the club, but demand still grows. With no indication as to when our supporters can return to the Stadium, we’re trying to raise £20,000 for foodbank projects, and donations are welcome here www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/ironssupportingfoodbanks

Sam Spong added ‘Inspired by the work supporting vulnerable communities in Liverpool, I am proud to be part of a team that brought the concept of ‘Fans Supporting Foodbanks’ to London. Working with Charlton Athletic, Fulham and West Ham (so far), we aim to combine community spirit with collective action to create a regular, dependable supply line of donations between fans and their local food banks. We are excited to say that work is ongoing to establish a formal partnership between ourselves and the Trussell Trust as we look to take this movement forward. Charlton were the first club in London to sign up to this project and have played a key role in getting it off the ground. It is disappointing that we cannot all enjoy this cup game together and unite Charlton and West Ham fans behind this. With that said, empty terraces cannot be an excuse to take our foot off the gas. New figures from the Trussell Trust predict a 61% in demand for foodbanks towards the end of 2020. Football must continue, as displayed by brilliantly by Marcus Rashford over the summer, to use its platform to shine a light on food poverty in the UK and end it once and for all.’