Want your child to be player escort for England Vs Turkey? Manchester 22 May Find out more... NOW CLOSED

[AnnMumsnet]

As Official Supermarket of the England Team, Lidl are very excited by the football-filled summer ahead of us.

To share in this excitement they've given us a money-can't buy prize for our lovely mumsnetters - to win the chance for your child (aged 7 to 11) to be a Player Escort at the England v Turkey game on Sunday 22nd May in Manchester. Included in the prize will be 4 tickets to watch the game, for a great day out for all the family.

As part of the partnership with The FA, Lidl also supports grassroots football to give more children the opportunity to lead an active healthy lifestyle. The FA Skills programme does just this, and together The FA and Lidl are offering exciting football sessions designed for 5-11 year old girls and boys of any ability, run by professional FA coaches.

For more information visit //www.lidl.co.uk/football

This competition is open to all MNers with a child is between the ages of 7 and 11 years old, who would want to take on this role.

To enter you need to do two things

1. post on this thread to say WHY your child would like to be a player escort for this match AND
   
   
2. add your details on this form so we can contact you should you be selected.
   
   Note: the match takes place on Sunday 22nd May in Manchester (City of Manchester Stadium) - kick off 5.15pm.
   
   Standard Insight T&Cs apply
   
   Competition closes at 9am Monday 16th May
   Winner will be contacted that day by email and text message
   If no response by 3pm Monday 16th May, a runner up will be picked.
   Please note transport isn't included so you'd need to make your own way to the game.
   Additional T&Cs here

[Donthate]

We are all tucked up in a hotel now after the best day. Thank you so much Mumsnet my dd had a fantastic time! My ds loved going to the match and cheering his sister on too. She even got some air time on tv

[YoureAllABunchOfBastards]

Waving madly at TV - which one is he!

[MrsHathaway]

Congratulations both! We'll look out for miniPirate and mini Dont at their respective matches - MN haircut?

(Meanwhile we won the Sparks one so DH will be taking DS2 to the training session instead!)

[Donthate]

Thank you so much, road trip to Sunderland next week for us, we can't wait! Dd looked like she was going to pop when I told her. What a fantastic surprise!

[AnnMumsnet]

By some other stroke of magic we were able to offer a runner up the chance for their DC to be player escort for England Vs Australia on Fri 27th May in Sunderland - this winner is Donthate . This winner was picked from all the original entries.

[Spotthezebra]

Hope you have a fantastic day

[AnnMumsnet]

anon congrats - you are on your way to Manchester!
Thanks to everyone who entered.....

[cpenwarden]

My son is totally mad about football, wants to play it all the time, watches it on TV, watches his dad play, plays on a sunday morning but really lacks in confidence as other children have said that he's too fat to be able to run fast enough to play football, he'll never be any good or win anything, he won't even wear shorts as they say his legs are too chubby! He could really do with a confidence boost like this to prove to himself how important he his & how everyone is built differently and it doesn't matter as he won't believe me.

[ToastByTheCoast]

I have a 10 yr old DD who has badgered me about playing football for years. She started this season a new local team of girls and they made it right through to their local league final (--where they were roundly thrashed but didn't care). Wind, rain, mud, they keep smiling and kicking the ball through it all

She would love this but the important thing is reading how happy football makes all the DC on this thread. A much better game than I ever thought!

[BabyOleg]

My 9 year old son just adores football. He goes to every school and local football club we can get him into, but we have never managed to go to a real match. After school the only thing he talks about is what happened at the lunchtime football match. His room is covered in football posters and he spends every spare minute in the garden practising new tricks.

I have a genetic lung condition that is now entered the end stages, I have never been able to have a kick about with him in the park even though I loved football as a child. My lung function is now at only 24% and I rely on additional oxygen. My last chance is a lung transplant, I will probably be on the active transplant list next month. However I have been told it would take 3-4 years to find the right match for me. Even if I manage to hold on to get the transplant the risks of the surgery and the aftermath are very high.

We have started to explain all of this to our son, who is taking it hard and is naturally finding it hard to process. He has always known me unwell and had accepted this as just the way I am. He is an anxious child and a worrier at the best of times, the possibility of loosing his mum is weighing heavily on his mind and we have had a lot of emotional heart to hearts. The call for the surgery could come anytime day or night and he knows his life could be turned upside down in the blink of an eye.

One of my greatest fears is my son having a limited memory of me and our time together as a family if I don't make it. We are trying to create as many happy memories for him, memories that will imprint and stay with him forever. Being a mascot would be so very special, I can't think of any other prize that would be better for him. He is a quarter Turkish too, which would make this even better for him.

Life for my son at the moment seems so serious, we are asking him to understand and be brave in a way that some adults are struggling to do. An experience like this would lighten the atmosphere and give him and us a boost before embarking on this roller coaster ride that this transplant process will be.

Good luck to everyone, there are so many deserving children here.

[Fivetoomany]

My ds 9 would love this opportunity! He loves football and absolutely fell in love with Turkey when we visited in 2014!

[Susan74]

My 7 year old would love Love love this. He is football crazy and this is the opportunity of a lifetime!! 😍😍😍 good luck everybody 😘😘

[kopite2016]

My nearly 9 year old would love this - he is a mad footie fan, but we haven't been lucky enough to get any decent priced tickets this year. He also absolutely deserves something like this as he is so brilliantly kind to his 6 year old brother who is severely autistic - he never complains when we have to postpone something we were going to do because his brother isn't coping, and makes us proud every day.

Best of luck to all on the thread

[YoureAllABunchOfBastards]

Having read mine back I should enter him for the X Factor - he'd be a shoo-in!

[YoureAllABunchOfBastards]

My 9 year old would love this chance. He's had a lousy few months - lost two great- grandparents, a grandparent and our beloved cat. He is also a Newcastle fan so hasn't even been cheered up by football, but he loves the game - would play all day every day if he could and when he isn't playing is watching

[Spotthezebra]

My little boy (well he's 11, but the youngest of 4 and my baby) would absolutely love this opportunity. He has been football mad ever since he was able to communicate and it's never waned. He still has the little velvet soft football he had as a toddler and kicks it around when it's raining if he can't get outside. He watches youtube videos of players tactics and can name all players. He plays for both a school team and an outside team and practises whenever he has the opportunity. As we live in South Devon there's not much happening down here ( Lidl only opened a shop here last year)!. His talents are good but he has so much enthusiasm for the game and it would really make his year to be chosen.
Thank you for reading, and good luck everyone, it sounds a fantastic opportunity for all football mad children xx

[onlywhenyouleave]

I have a 7 year old and a 9 year old who are both obsessed with football. They cannot wait for the European Championships to start and have been reading everything they can get their hands on about it.

This would be an absolute dream come true for them.

Finally, DS2 told me a couple of weeks ago that his life would be complete once he has been to the Etihad stadium so how lovely would it be for you to fulfil his ambitions in such grand style 😂

[tinyterrors]

My 7 year old ds would be ecstatic if he won this. He eats sleeps and breathes football, if there's a football within 50 feet he'll find it and start a kick about, even at 8am when he should be getting his school things ready. The first thing he tells me when I pick him up from school is how many goals he scored and who should have been sent off for fouls. He's forever talking football with dh and Manchester United is his favourite team. He amazes me with how much he knows about the players and stats. He's dying to see Man U play but getting tickets is nigh on impossible, I've quite literally been trying for years but they're always sold out. Winning this wouldn't just make his year but his life.

[Nerdygalwithabook]

He isn't my son but my brother.
He is an amazing human being. Kind and gentle and caring. He understands wordy issues amazingly and I really appreciate him. He adores football and that's good for him because he gets bullied at school. He is about to check out a football club (different one to the bully's)
He really deserves it because he deserves amazing and great things to happen. X