Bedale AFC are famous for their unconventional footie kits that have sported everything from sizzling bangers to hot dogs with ketchup and mustard, a see-through kit, to a giant carrot complete with cheese grater goalkeeper kit. To date the partnership has raised over £3000 in strip sales alone. But this year, Bedale are set to “batter” their opponents with a new range of kit, inspired by the sausage classic, Toad in the Hole. Every bit the head-turner and celebrate all things Yorkshire, the strip will be unveiled on Friday July 29 in readiness for Yorkshire Day on August 1, followed by a team dinner eating of course, Toad in the Hole made with HECK’S famous pork sausages.
“We’ve gone a bit more traditional this year – last years was very hard hitting and got the prostate cancer message across, but it did cause some problems playing when the temperature rose” explains Bedale AFC chairman, Martyn Coombs, “By taking the classic Toad in the Hole and given it a whole new meaning…and name! Welcome Bedale AFC’s latest sausage-themed football strip: Toad in the Goal”.
Keeping in tone with the previous controversial ‘wurst’ ever HECK bangers kit and the bangers and mash strip that was banned by the FA back in 2019, this year’s strip will see the team ready to batter their opponents in head-to-toe Toad in the Hole, with their goalie dressed as a side helping of mixed veg.
It was in 2017 when the team’s original sausage-themed kit launched with shirts and shorts covered in Heck bangers, the kit gained global media attention and was voted one of the ‘wurst’ ever. Coombs said, ‘We got such a huge response to the kit and were inundated with requests for people to buy them, so we decided to produce extra shirts to cope with demand and, in the process, raised thousands of pounds for our chosen charity, Prostate Cancer UK, with £5 from the sale of every shirt donated to the charity.’
Next came the iconic hot dog kit in 2018, displaying a sausage in a bun covered in ketchup and mustard and in 2019 it was a kit with bangers & mash that took centre stage. Disappointingly, the 2019 kit was banned by the FA but it didn’t stop fans around the world ordering their own version of the ‘collector’s item’ shirt, raising even more money for the charity through sales on historicfootballshirts.co.uk, Bedale AFC’s official suppliers. Coombs continues, ‘Apparently the sausages on the shirt infringed FA rules so we hope they won’t complain this year about our Toad in the Goal kit emblazoned with the Yorkshire pudding recipe down the sleeve.’
Last year went a bit more close to the issue, with the sponsor name replaced with Check in a see through kit, to remind men to regularly check for abnormal lumps and to see their GP to get a urine test, a prostate specific antigen (PSA) blood test or a digital rectal examination (DRE) to check for prostate cancer. Across the UK, prostate cancer is the most common cancer in men and 1 in 8 men will get prostate cancer in their lifetime and over 47,000 men are diagnosed every year – that’s 129 men every day and every 45 minutes one man dies from prostate cancer – that’s more than 11,000 men every year.
In 2014, a good friend of the club Steve Garbett, died of Prostate Cancer and his family and friends decided to raise money in his memory by embarking on three Prostate Cancer bike rides to Amsterdam as well as organising many other fund-raising events. To date, Team Garby have raised over £191, 637.54 in Steve’s memory, helped in no small part by their partnership with Heck.
Heck co-founder, Andrew Keeble, said, ‘What started as an innocuous sausage kit a few years ago has snowballed into this massive, almost unstoppable force that shows no sign of letting up. Every time we think that’s it, we get another idea for a new kit and away we go again. However, there is a very serious side to all of this because Heck and Bedale AFC continue to raise awareness and funds for prostate and testicular cancer.”
To find out how to order any of the Bedale AFC Heck football kits, search for Bedale AFC and follow the links or go to historicfootballshirts.co.uk.
Further information/photography available from Martyn Coombs, martync55@gmail.com or 07885 228097.
Photos by; Gary Morrisroe Photography (copyright free)
