Three days may not seem like a long time, but for one set of brothers and 14 of their friends it must feel like a lifetime.
Theo Strong, 25, and Magnus Strong, 22, set themselves the challenge of playing a five-a-side football match for 72 hours straight – which will be a new world record if completed on Saturday, October 29.
The aptly named Strong brothers from Newbury began their challenge on Wednesday, October 26 at Chestnut Grove Academy in Balham.
The pair are joined by 14 of their friends, all in the name of raising money for charity Football Beyond Borders.
They will all take shifts playing and catch up with what little sleep they can by using makeshift mattresses set up for them at the school.
“I always like to do something each year,” said lead organiser Theo.
“This year we were trying to do something here and it just came across my mind.
“The record had been broken since we looked at it initially two years ago.
“They did it last year.
“I think that probably motivated me more to do it again.
“So I spoke to a few people, and they were keen, and then it escalated from there.”
Everyone involved has had to fit a difficult training schedule in around their day jobs but it is still a massive leap into the unknown.
“With this we’ve got no idea what’s in store for us,” Theo said.
“We haven’t taken 72 hours out of our lives to play football before so there are a lot of unknowns, which makes me quite apprehensive.
“But at the same time it’s a world record so hopefully the motivation will be there for us.”
For the record, you could walk from London to Blackpool in 72 hours.
“It’s like nothing you can ever even imagine doing,” said Magnus.
“What could you compare to it?”
Other than the attractive notion of breaking a world record, both brothers were keen to stress how important raising money for Football Beyond Borders was to them.
Alongside the target of 72 hours they have also set a target of raising £30,000 for the charity that seeks to help disadvantaged children through the sport.
“I think the work that they do, it was so inspiring. You look at the young children from these areas, not very nice areas, and they get them in the classroom,” explained Theo.
“They get them to do amazing work to help them out with potential careers onwards from there.”
His brother had a similar attitude towards the charity.
“You’d be surprised the values that you can learn through football as well,” Magnus said.
“It teaches them a lot of discipline and it gives them something that they want to do every week.
“Because there’s a very fine line between breaking the rules and doing the right thing, and having respect for each other, football is very like life.
“It sort of reflects because you can throw out rules in place, and choose to obey them, or you can choose to do whatever you want.
“But if you want to do it for the people that surround you and make you feel like you are a member of society it’s great.
“There’s absolutely no reason that we’d do this other than to prove it to ourselves that we can do something and do something good.”
The challenge began on Wednesday evening and is due to finish tomorrow at 8pm.
To donate to the FBB World Record go to their website at: fbbworldrecord.com/about/
