The ball boy for the Three Lions friendly match is unusual, an elderly Alzheimer’s patient serves as the ball boy

Sports Weekly All-Media Reporter Li Jingyi

England and Wales meet at Wembley to warm up. There is a huge gap in strength between the two teams, and the record is also very different. The Red Dragons only won one away game against the Three Lions after World War II. The time was back to May 1977. The two sides have a record of 104 games. The Three Lions are undefeated in 90 games, and their advantage is overwhelming. How can such a friendly match, which lacks suspense, enhance its significance? The FA's answer comes from ball boys. Different from the usual setting of players holding hands with cheerful children wearing small-size jerseys to enter the stadium, the Three Lions and Red Dragons, led by Tottenham legend Kane and rising star Brennan Johnson, will be accompanied by elderly "ball boys" into the stadium. Among these 22 people, the youngest is also 50 years old. What they have in common is that they all suffer from Alzheimer's disease.

This is the fourth designated international match for the Football Association and the Alzheimer's Association. The purpose of the cooperation is to raise public awareness of various types of dementia. The 22 selected people received this opportunity due to their respective contributions to the association. Three Lions coach Tuchel specially issued a signed invitation letter for this event. The team also arranged for Solanke, Dan Byrne, Reece James and other international players to inform the invited seniors in person or via video.

57-year-old Anita Guidry is a loyal fan of the sixth-tier league team Spennymoor Town. She went to Wembley in May to support her hometown team in the FA Championship final. When she learned that she had the opportunity to go to the national team's home court again, Guidry cried with joy. Her only worry was that because of her small height of 1.52 meters, she would be arranged to enter the venue hand-in-hand with someone with a larger size. In the British public perception, the National Health Service (NHS) will provide professional and friendly help to patients with dementia, but the fact is that diagnosed patients receive very limited institutional support. Guidry said: "The Alzheimer's Association has filled the gap in the medical system. General practitioners are actually not good at diagnosing dementia. It took me 7 years to be diagnosed, and the diagnosis result came from a phone call - during the COVID-19 epidemic. The NHS secretary called and said: 'Mrs. Gudry, your results are out, you have Alzheimer's disease. Mutism and vascular dementia, if you need someone to chat to, please call the clinic to make an appointment. ’ Then she hung up the phone. Once you are over 65, you are integrated into the geriatric care system and receive some support, but younger patients are completely abandoned. The Alzheimer's Association is the only one you can rely on, like a safety net. "

Asked what effect he hopes people will have when they see players being escorted into the stadium by 22 adults, Guidry did not hesitate: "To increase awareness. “That’s the purpose of events like this. "They will see 22 people in different stages of dementia, but they look like normal people, just like their mothers, fathers, husbands, wives, sons, daughters. They could be anyone in your family. They look normal, but they are actually sentenced to death. We need people to speak up, we must stop this, and we must take action."