RYAN GIGGS OBEName: - Ryan Joseph Giggs Born: - 29th November 1973

Ryan Giggs was born in Cardiff, Wales. His parents were Lynne Giggs and Danny Wilson. He has a brother called Rhodri Giggs.

Ryan Giggs s granddad from his dads side of the family is originally from Sierra Leone, meaning that Ryan Giggs is

mixed race and suffered from racism as a child. This is some of the reason Ryan went to work with UNICEF

RYAN S FOOTBALL CAREERRyan plays for Manchester united he is a midfielder. He joined Manchester united on the 9th July 1990. His debut was on the 2nd March 1991 in a home game against Everton. Ryan has made 895 appearances for Manchester united. He has scored 162 goals for Manchester united.

He also played international football for Wales, until he retired in 2007. He still plays for Manchester United.

And

Giggs is the most decorated player in English football history. He holds the record for the most competitive appearances He has won 12 premier league 4 FA cup medals 3 league cup winner s medals 2 champions league winner s medals 3 FA cup finals Ryan was also team captain for the 2007/08 season He also won both Sports Personality of the Year in 2009 and Professional footballer s association player of the year.

Ryan Giggs s charity work

Ryan is an ambassador for the Manchester united foundation. It is an organisation to promote working with children and young people in the UK and other countries like Africa. As well as doing lots of stuff for the Manchester united foundation he did lots of stuff for UNICEF with Rio Ferdinand and Patrick Evra along with the Manchester united foundation.

There was a Programme on Channel 4 called The Million Pound Footballers Giveaway and Ryan had some money and donated it to The Royal College of Nursing as part of his charity work

UNICEF

On the website for UNICEF it says UNICEF is the world s leading organisation focusing on children and child rights with a presence 190 countries and territories In the UK they raise funds for UNICEF emergency and development work all around the world in 2009 they raised 50 million pounds. Ryan has worked with UNICEF on different campaigns since 2002. Two of the campaigns have been preventing children being killed/ murdered by landmines left unmarked following wars and speaking out against HIV but in Africa.

Ryan meeting Children with HIV in Sierra Leone in 2009

Ryan Giggs became an Ambassador for UNICEF in August 2006 because of the work he did for Manchester united in United for UNICEF An ambassador means he is a famous person who helps spread awareness of Charities and gets people interested as they like to know what famous people, like footballers are doing. In the summer of 2007 Manchester united went to South Africa and while he was there he went to visit UNICEF projects in Cape Town and Johannesburg.

In 2010 UNICEF and Ryan organised a charity football match called Soccer Aid to help raise money for UNICEF Ryan was

on the rest of the world team playing against some other famous people, including Robbie from Take That.

Awards

Ryan has won a few different awards. As well as the Player of the year award and the sports Personality of the year award he won something called The Golden Foot Award in 2011. This award means you stand out in your sport of football and it is an International award for over 29 year old players. It is judged for by Football experts

Ryan Receiving his award, which was presented by Adebdi Pele.

In 2007 Ryan was also given an OBE Order of the British Empire. He was given this by the Queen herself, in her Birthday Honours list for Services to football.

He was given an Honorary Masters of Arts Degree from Salford University in 2008 for Services to Football and for doing Charity work in developing Countries like his work in Africa. On the 7th January 2010 he was also given the Freedom of the City of Salford he was the 22nd person to be given this.

Why I chose Ryan GiggsI chose Ryan Giggs as my hero because he has a lot of loyalty for his club, Manchester united and his international team Wales. He has never got sent off in his whole career and had 1 only 1 yellow card playing for Wales. This is something he should be very proud of because lots of players now are getting sent off for silly tackles and being cheeky and swearing at Referees. He has lots of respect for the referees and the linesmen. Ryan has played for Manchester united since he was 17 and now he is 38 years of age that means he has been playing for the same club for 21 years he has had the longest career out of all the footballers ever. Most Players are money chasers and just want to play for a club that pays lots of money and not who they really support. He is really involved in the club because he really supports Manchester United since he was a young boy which makes me have respect for him because he is playing for the club he has always supported instead of looking at other clubs who will pay him more money.

He is a real gentleman because he has done lots of work for UNICEF and developing other countries especially Africa.

He does this work with the Manchester United Foundation along with other players. I think that this means he is really nice and caring that he does all this work for free to help other people who are not as lucky as I am. Ryan has affected the lives of lots of people in Africa especially children because they are dying of poverty and diseases like HIV and Malaria and Ryan is raising money to give to the unfortunate people who live in Africa who may not have mums and dads . He does all of the charity work when he is not playing football and in his own time and he doesn t get paid for it because he is a very caring person. This shows he has a lot of generosity to other people.

From doing his Charity work and his Football career he has won lots of trophies and awards. To be given an OBE from the Queen it is very special, to get an OBE you need to do a lot of work and have a lot of respect from people. He got his OBE for services to football because of his loyalty to the club and there are lots of children who like him a lot and may get into playing football because of him. This is important to help keep kids fit and into sport instead of being inside on computers and stop them getting fat and being unhealthy.

Here are some Pictures I have found of Ryan Giggs throughout his career

Here he is with Alex Ferguson and the Charity Shield.

This is him with the sports personality award.

This is my Step-dad, Rick at Old Trafford in the changing rooms in front of Giggs s actual shirt!!!!!

This is me and my Brother Noah stood at the place where Ryan Giggs sits when he s a sub at Manchester United.

I think Ryan Giggs is a really good Hero to have . He makes me want to play football and I will always try and help other people who aren t as fortunate as me and when I am older I would like to do some Charity work like Ryan has done

If you want to find out more about UNICEF and the work they do there is a really good website to look at www.unicef.org.uk.