Rio Ferdinand, Jamie Redknapp, Darren Anderton and Paul Ince have teamed up with other Premiership stars and managers to raise money for research into testicular and prostate cancer – by auctioning off their underpants for charity at www.bigfanof.com.

The stars, whose personal websites are all featured on bigfanof.com, include players Ferdinand (Leeds United), Redknapp and Didi Hamman (Liverpool), Ince (Middlesbrough), Anderton (Spurs), Muzzy Izzet (Leicester City) and Gary Speed (Newcastle United) as well as managers Harry Redknapp (West Ham) and Jim Smith (Derby County). The participants
will each be donating a pair of their very own underpants – washed, of course – and signed ready for the auction.

The unique auction, accessed via bigfanof.com and hosted by Europe’s premier on-line auctioneer QXL ricardo plc (www.QXL.com), begins at 9am on Saturday 3rd March and will be seeking to raise money for the everyman campaign – The Institute of Cancer Research’s national campaign to raise awareness of and funding for male cancers.

‘Men know more about breast cancer than male cancers,’ said Kate Husher from everyman, ‘yet testicular cancer is the most common cancer to affect young men between the ages of 20 and 35 and is 96% curable if detected in the early stages.’

‘Men have been made more aware of testicular cancer since the case of Celtic player Alan Stubbs came to light, but awareness is still worryingly low with a MORI poll showing that over two thirds (68%) of young men questioned said they know little or nothing about it.’

Chris Bromage, MD of BigFanOf.com said ‘The idea came about because our personalities had heard of the testicular cancer issue via the Alan Stubbs case and wanted to do something about it. We sat down with a few of them and came up with this idea.’

For more information, a free leaflet or to make a donation to the everyman campaign please call freephone 0800 731 9468 or e-mail: everyman@icr.ac.uk.

For /quotes from participating personalities please refer to www.bigfanof.com.

For more information contact:

Bigfanof.com:

Anthony Kayne
Cohn & Wolfe
Tel: 020 7331 5300
anthony_kayne@uk.cohnwolfe.com

Everyman:

Kate Husher
Institute of Cancer Research
Tel: 020 7970 6056
khusher@icr.ac.uk

QXL.com:

CJ Wilson
QXL.com
Tel: 020 8962 7321
cj.wilson@qxl.com