Mayor of London Sadiq Khan to present Rush with Legends of Sport Award
Thursday 29 March 2018 18:52, UK
Ian Rush says his desire to help develop football at grassroots level is the reason why he has launched his own foundation.
Liverpool's all-time leading goalscorer decided to bring forward the launch for the Ian Rush Foundation after learning he is to be recognised with the inaugural Legends of Sport Award.
"My desire to create the foundation was because I wanted to give something back to grassroots football," Rush told Sky Sports News.
"People always talk about football at the top but beneath that you need an infrastructure at the bottom. People forget about the grassroots and if you lose that you lose everything.
"There are also so many volunteers and people out there who are supporting grassroots football and they're doing it for nothing. They put up the goals and the nets and they pick kids up so that they can get to the game.
"What these people do is unbelievable and they don't get recognised enough but we must support them by giving them the right facilities."
Rush has for long been a Liverpool ambassador and says he has been inspired during the course of his travels representing the club around the world.
"I'm taking a worldwide view with the foundation, not just in Wales or in Liverpool," he said.
"I've been over to India lots of times and I was really touched when I went to visit the children in the slums. The most amazing thing was that the kids were all smiling.
"Give them a ball, they'll kick it around and they're happy. Money can't buy that kind of happiness. But if we can help them a little bit through the foundation, whether that's something to wear or some equipment or a facility that they can play at, it will make them better.
"I want the boys and girls to enjoy themselves in what they do and I want to put back into grassroots football. The job of the Ian Rush Foundation is to give them the apparatus, the facilities and everything so that they can enjoy it. The more they enjoy it, the more likely they are to get to a higher level."
Rush's dream of creating his own foundation has been facilitated by Avalon Sports.
"Ian has been very active at grassroots level with Liverpool over the years and that's the starting point for the Ian Rush Foundation," Avalon Sports director Saad Wadia said.
"We've both come from similarly modest backgrounds but Ian has gone on to have such a decorated career. I cannot affect change the way Ian can. He can impact more people in a day than maybe I could in my whole life so we're delighted to be working with him on this."
Rush will be presented with the Legends of Sport Award by Mayor of London Sadiq Khan at a glittering ceremony where friends and former team-mates including Graeme Souness and Phil Thompson will be present.
"It's a real honour to present the Legends of Sport Award to Ian Rush, a true Kop legend and a real boyhood hero of mine," Khan said.
Sharif Banna, chairman of charity One Family, who are hosting the event, added: "Ian Rush is without question, one of the most influential footballers of all time and his record-breaking achievements remain supreme.
"He is a fitting recipient of the Legends of Sport Award and it is very much our pleasure to honour him in this way."
