The John Griff Column: Making a difference – and saying so

We’re used to seeing the awarding of trophies. In the next few weeks the World Cup tournament of football will be played out in front of a global audience – some will come away as heroes, some as villains and many more people will look back on the event as one that their national side didn’t win, rather than the one that did.

Competition is great – it’s an important part of the human condition. But there’s more than just a trophy to be lofted from competition. Last Sunday the Danish footballer Christian Eriksen collapsed during Denmark's match with Ukraine. Formerly of Manchester United and Tottenham, Eriksen had been fitted with a small pacemaker after suffering a cardiac arrest during a Euro 2020 game in 2021. The friendly was stopped just over an hour into its duration when he collapsed – it was abandoned shortly afterwards, albeit that 34-year-old Eriksen was eventually able to walk from the field. What struck me was the sportsmanship of both sides whilst Eriksen was being attended to. All the players crowded around him, holding up fabric screens to afford privacy and dignity to not only their downed comrade/opponent, but also the medical team working on him. It was a small, but fundamental act which painted the football community in a very good light.

Something similar is happening closer to home. The TT race series on the Isle of Man is, for many, the holy grail of motorsport on two – or three wheels. Competitors race on public roads that have no official upper limit and routinely reach 200 mph on the straight. The lap record is over 136 mph, but the series also has a macabre reputation for accidents, injuries and death. Almost 300 lives have been lost to the series since 1911, from riders, marshals, bystanders or other officials. Many more have been injured and a fortnight ago the Rushden based rider Maria Costello MBE’s name was added to the list when her sidecar combination crashed heavily, severely injuring not only Maria but sidecar teammate Shaun Parker. Costello made her TT debut in 1996 and had become an inspiration to many not only for her speed (she held the fastest female record there until 2009) but her professionalism and input into the biking community by training and encouraging others to ride motorbikes safely, not necessarily to race them. Currently, she lies paralysed in a Liverpool hospital having been flown there by air ambulance from the Isle of Man. The road to recovery will be as arduous as it is long – her physical injuries are both extensive and life-changing. Recovery will be expensive too. But it’s where human kindness and dignity is showing itself.

In the hours after the accident, a GoFundMe appeal was set up (encouragingly entitled the ‘Road to Recovery’) - to support the rider, whose needs will extend beyond physical healing and rehabilitation. An initial target of £200,000 was set and achieved within just a few days. The target then went up to £250,000 and as I write this, has achieved £230,000 with the amount rising. The target may well need to be further increased. On the GoFundMe website there are not only the details of donations but also the words of encouragement from ordinary people motivated to help – not just from the biking community, although many are. By way of disclosure I have interviewed Maria on a number of occasions and not just for the radio – I last talked to her in April when she was brimming with enthusiasm for the TT races. Her autobiography makes for interesting reading – to it now will need to be appended an update but I’m sure her approach to it – and her adjusted life – will be as professional and uncompromisingly selfless as everything that she has worked to achieve. If you wish to support the Maria Costello appeal, you can do so at https://www.gofundme.com/f/maria-costello-mbe-road-to-recovery or by going to the GoFundMe website and putting ‘Maria Costello’ into its search box. 

On Friday last week the Rose of the Shires Awards were announced at Wicksteed Park. Presented by Oliver Wicksteed DL and the High Sheriff of Northamptonshire Roger Butler the awards scheme is run by the Northamptonshire Community Foundation, and highlights through nomination the remarkable, unstinting and often otherwise unsung voluntary work carried out by individuals and groups on behalf of the wider community. Such people sometimes actively shun the limelight, preferring to ‘just get on with it’ – but it is important to shine that limelight not only to be able to say ‘thank you’, but to also celebrate inspirational attitudes and output as examples for others to follow or be challenged to. From the work a 14 year-old to that of an 85 year-old, each is a reason for faith in what humans can do when motivated, whatever their origins or situation. More please.

And thank you.