”You fail all the time as an athlete.” When you lose a game, you prepare for the next. “If you lose in the cup final, you come back stronger the next season,” says Marcus Rashford, Manchester United and England’s star forward. Rashford became a hero off the field when his idea for free school lunches for children in lockdown (and beyond) became one of 2020’s few positive news stories.

However, the season was considerably different from the tumultuous Premiership season. From his home in Manchester, the joyful and intelligent 22-year-old star adds, “In this case, the failure would have been me not standing up for all those people who didn’t have a voice.” Rashford will appear on the September 2020 cover of British Vogue, among 18 other activists from around the world, including model and mental health worker Adwoa Aboah. “If I didn’t stand up and sаy, ‘This is not okay, and it needs to change,’ I would have let down everyone who helped me get here.'” In truth, I would have disappointed my ten-year-old self.”

It everything came down to them. “This was something I could relate to,” he now adds. “I’d done something similar before.” That was what my mother had gone through. That we had gone through as a family,” he says of his boyhood in Wythenshawe, a suburb of Manchester. It was a promise I made to my mother that if the opportunity arose, I would assist her, and that opportunity arose. Yes, I took a chance. But I reduced the risk by studying more. I had listened to and spoken with those who were most distressed. I had been working for FareShare prior to the lockout, so I was aware of how parents had become reliant on food banks and food stamps.

Within a day of Rashford’s letter becoming viral, the government performed an incredible U-turn and announced that free school meals will be available over the summer. The outcome was miraculous: the court of public opinion had adopted a genuine young football player with a compelling story to tell. He often states that it is not about him. “I’d been listening to parents, caregivers, headteachers, and my partner FareShare tell their stories for weeks.” I thought it was my responsibility to provide them the opportunity to share and be heard.” There was conversation, but no one was listening. I’m not a politician by any means, but I do have a voice and a platform from which to speak out.