A petition has been launched by a resident of Withington to increase the award being presented to Marcus Rashford from the Manchester Award to the Freedom of the City award.
Residents of Withington have rallied around this idea, with some suggesting that he deserved more than the Freedom of the City award.
April Preston, a campaigner in Withington, started the petition because she believes that Marcus Rashford deserves a higher honour than the Manchester Award and believes the community of Withington and wider could be instrumental in making this happen.
She said: “I think that it would be a great way for the residents to actually stand up and be accounted for in a way that goes way beyond the opportunity of these messages that are now being preserved.
“If we could do something that has more permanence then he would stay in our minds as a movement that Withington can be proud of for future generations.
“This is a way of Manchester having a direct hand in how he is addressed as our working class hero and we’re not talking about a working class hero in the icky political sense.
“We’re talking about a man that had no real incentive to speak truth to power, but did and I think that’s something that really speaks to Manchester people, to Withington people specifically. That’s why you’ve seen so many messages.”
April believes in the power of the community and believes that communities have power and voice to stand up and help. She thinks that this was shown through more than £39,000 being raised for Withington Walls to repair the mural and that that level of support could get Marcus Rashford the Freedom of the City.
“If you’re not going to give the freedom of the city to someone who has achieved what he has, from the barriers he has come from. Then when are you going to?”
“What would the threshold have to be to say, you did Manchester proud, you did Withington proud.”
Other residents believe that receiving the Freedom of Manchester Award is the least the city could do.
Tracey Browne, Davenport Avenue Withington said: “It’s a start. It’s important to start somewhere and it’s going to escalate. He’s an inspiration.”
“When I walked past [the mural] and saw everyone. I was amazed.”
Tracey believes, like April, that the community which has rallied around Marcus Rashford is strong enough to achieve this honour for him and that this is something Manchester should do to show their support of the footballer.
She said: “It’s united Withington. I just feel so proud to be part of Withington.”
Two footballers have been awarded the Freedom of the City of Manchester since 1999, Sir Alex Ferguson and Sir Bobby Charlton. The residents believe Marcus Rashford should be among these names.
Bruce Harrison, who lived around the corner from Rashford when he was growing up and remembers him playing out on the streets, believes that he deserves an MBE, and at least the Freedom of Manchester Award.
He said: “He deserves it. He knows what it’s like to go without food.”
“He took the government on, twice.”
Bruce, along with other residents of the area believe that Marcus Rashford is showing the true issues of Britain today and hopes that the government is listening.
Three of the residents who were spoken to said they knew what it was like to not know where their next meal was coming from and think that Marcus Rashford standing up to the government was inspirational.
Paul Oldfield, who is from Wythenshaw but now lives in Withington, agrees with this sentiment, and thinks that while the award is just ‘lip service’ it is continuing the conversation and helping children all over the country.
“We need to get people to do something. We’ve got to keep fighting, concentrate on the community.”
Adding: “We need more Marcus Rashfords.”
“I’m enjoying [the mural], I’m really blown away by it all.”
Erica, who lives in Withington, thinks that the mural and all of the supportive messages show how much the city cares and believes this shows why he deserves the higher honour.
“He has done more than what the government has done. You can just tell from looking at [the mural] how much the city has responded.”
The petition is live on the Manchester City Council website and asks the council to award Marcus Rashford with the Freedom of the City award.
