Welsh football superstar Gareth Bale has received an MBE in honor of the Queen’s birthday. On the list with his full name Gareth Frank Bale, he is receiving it for football and charity services.
During the pandemic, it emerged that he had made a donation of £ 500,000 to help NHS staff in Wales. Bale and his wife Emma donated the huge sum of money to the official NHS charity Cardiff and Vale Health Board. The charity focuses on providing additional services to patients and staff that are not provided by the regular NHS funds.
“The University of Wales Hospital occupies a special place in my heart. It was where I was born and has provided great support to my family, friends and the community at large.
“My family and I would like to show our support. Keep up the good work, you are doing an amazing job. Thank you very much,” said the player, who has no contract. In the same 24 hours it also emerged that he gave 500,000 euros to the Spanish health service. You can read how much Bale has won at Real Madrid here.
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Born in Cardiff, Bale was one of the trio of iconic sports stars who attended Whitchurch High in the city.
His Wales coach Rob Page recently described him as a role model, whose charitable work has been as valuable a contribution to Wales as anything he has done for national football.
“We had to take a photo recently for a car company, one of the sponsors, where we were delivering a car, and they wanted Gareth in the photo,” he said. “I asked why and it was because he had given a lot of money to the hospital. A lot of people don’t see it. He’s not the type of character who calls this from the rooftops. I’ll do it. For him, he won’t and then we won’t get to hear about how good he is.
“It’s not just what she’s done in the field, it’s what she is. She’s a role model for the little ones and things like that show she has class.” You can read more about it here.
Page joked that if he scored a winner on Sunday in the crucial World Cup qualifier, he would build a statue for himself.
“He’s been a legend. He’s a Welsh icon, absolutely. And not just what he’s done on the pitch. A lot of people don’t know what he’s doing off the pitch when it comes to charities.”
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