Marcus Rashford defends charity deals over profit claims
Marcus Rashford has defended his non-football partnerships amid claims from a, so far, unpublished article that he has profited by campaigning.
Rashford tweeted he had heard political magazine The Spectator was due to publish an article about him getting an income from the partnerships.
Rashford has worked hard backing child food poverty incentives and raised £20 million for groups tackling the issue.
He questioned why footballers “can’t just do the right thing” for charity.
The article has not yet been published.
Rashford has also forced a series of government U-turns over free school meals during the pandemic.
He tweeted a thread on Tuesday saying accusing him of financially benefiting from these charity partnerships was “just a non-starter.” #
Just heard @spectator are planning to run a story on me tomorrow about how I have benefitted commercially in the last 18 months…To clarify, I don’t need to partner with brands. I partner because I want to progress the work I do off the pitch and…(1)
— Marcus Rashford (@MarcusRashford) July 20, 2021
His Burberry partnership saw the luxury fashion brand make a number of donations to youth charities and youth clubs.
Before that he started a petition urging ministers to extend free school meals through the holidays, eventually pressuring ministers into providing £170m of extra funding.
Rashford wrote on Tuesday: “Just heard Spectator are planning to run a story on me tomorrow about how I have benefitted commercially in the last 18 months.
“To clarify, I don’t need to partner with brands. I partner because I want to progress the work I do off the pitch and most of any fee I would receive contributes to that.
“Last summer, 1.3M children had access to food support, through my relationship with Burberry children have a safe place to be after school where they will be fed, following the November investment vulnerable children have safe places to go this summer holiday, and due to my relationship with Macmillan 80,000 children now have a book to call their own.
“Do I have a larger commercial appeal following the U-turns? I’m sure. But I’m also a Manchester United and England international footballer. Why has there always got to be a motive? Why can’t we just do the right thing?
“I actually enjoy reading bits from The Spectator now and again but this is just a non-starter.”
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