Nurse appeal chasing soccer cash

An appeal set up to help desperate nurses by asking Premiership football players to donate a day's wages has only been able to collect a quarter of the £750,000 it was promised, it has emerged.

Political economist Noreena Hertz set up the Mayday for Nurses appeal earlier this year, asking footballers to help hard-up nurses.

But it is understood the Royal College of Nursing (RCN), which agreed to administer the fund, has been unable to collect all of the donations.

Dr Hertz, a Third World campaigner and academic who helped organise Live 8, has said her fundraising was inspired by nurses who cared for her terminally ill mother.

The RCN agreed to administer the fund alongside its own - but was not expecting to have to collect the donations itself.

The charity is understood to have been left with only sparse contact details, and is even without the names of many of the players who donated.

The RCN said it does not have much more information than appears on the appeal website which, for example, says 20 players from Tottenham donated to the appeal - but only names Paul Robinson and Jermaine Defoe.

The problem is made worse by the fact many players have changed clubs since the appeal ended at the end of last season.

According to the appeal's website, 255 footballers - including Liverpool's Steven Gerrard, Manchester United's Ryan Giggs and former Arsenal striker Thierry Henry - signed up to the appeal, which raised £750,000 in 80 days with support from every club in the top flight.

An RCN spokeswoman said: "Although the actual levels of donations received are yet to meet expectations based on the initial pledges, the Mayday for Nurses campaign has successfully raised a substantial sum of money which will allow the RCN to help hundreds of nurses in financial hardship.

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