John Terry became the latest football star to take the Ice Bucket Challenge following Chelsea's 3-1 victory over Burnley in their opening game of the Premier League season. The Blues captain managed to thank Ashley Cole and 'Stan' Petrov for nominating him to do the dare before tipping a bucket of freezing water over his head.
The veteran defender nominated Frank Lampard, Nigerian John Obi Mikel... and Rafa Benitez.
ALS Ice Bucket Challenge, is an activity involving dumping a bucket of ice water on one's head or donating to the ALS Association in the United States. The challenge dares nominated participants to have a bucket of ice water poured on their head. One common stipulation gives 24 hours from the time they are nominated to complete the dare; otherwise, the participant is asked to donate money to charity.
The craze is sweeping the globe with the world of football well and truly in on the act too.
The earliest reported football case of the challenge was carried out by Paul Scholes when he and his famous Class of '92 teammates took to the field for a specially-arranged friendly with Salford City. Afterwards the 39-year-old got all soaked up by Gary Neville and he quickly passed the challenge to Darren Fletcher.
Darren Fletcher who himself was plagued with a career threatening disease - Ulcerative Colitis, dully obliged and nominated world footballer of the year Cristiano Ronaldo.
Ronaldo accepted the challenge gallantly but decided to send the challenge out of the sporting circle as the Real Madrid star called out music icons Beyonce, Jennifer Lopez and rapper Lil Wayne. But the Real Madrid star made sure he wasn't alone in his wetness as he poured ice water on teammate Marcello.
Before plunging into the icy depths, Marcelo nominated Brazil teammate, and Barcelona rival, Neymar.
Neymar used the opportunity to exact revenge on Juan Zuniga the defender who ended his worldcup dreams on home soil. The Colombian whose hefty challenge broke Brazilian hearts and left the Brazilian mega super star with a fractured vertebra, has been nominated to risk hypothermia too.
Before the popularity of the Ice Bucket Challenge, levels of awareness, fundraising, research dollars, and overall public support for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) were extremely low. After the Ice Bucket Challenge went viral on social media, public awareness and charitable donations for ALS soared to unprecedented levels. On August 18, 2014, the ALS Association announced that it had received $15.6 million in donations compared to $1.8 million during the same time period (July 29 to August 18) in the prior year. ALS, also known as Motor Neurone Disease, attacks the spinal cord and can lead to speech difficulties, muscle spasms and paralysis. It affects about 30,000 people in the US and 5,000 in the UK.
Steven Gerrard took the challenge too and he appeared to be the coolest as he nominated fellow Scouser and Cardiff City player Craig Noone to give it a go next.
Unlike Gerrard, Barcelona defender found the sub zero temperature unbearable as he threw the gauntlet down to Lionel Messi.
It is unclear who nominated Mario Balotelli with some reports saying he nominated himself, but the Italian striker also had himself some ice cold bath.
From one striker to another, after receiving the challenge from famous football chick Emily Rogawski, Liverpool super striker Daniel Sturridge added Tinie Tempah, Banks and Jessie Ware to join him in throwing ice water on themselves, or pay money to the ALS charity.
Not to be outdone by the football stars, NBA star LeBron James showed how cool he really is as he took on the Ice Bucket Challenge before nominating his children and the most powerful man on earth Barack Obama to be next.
Obama, however, decided against the challenge and promised to donate instead.
The President is still being barraged by requests, though, with New York Knicks star Carmelo Anthony the latest to send the dare.
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