Football veteran Willie Henderson in trek for cancer charity
A former Scottish international footballer who played in Hong Kong during the 1970s has trekked 100 kilometres in Indonesia to honour his daughter, who died of cancer.
A former Scottish international footballer who played in Hong Kong during the 1970s has trekked 100 kilometres in Indonesia to honour his daughter, who died of cancer.
Former Glasgow Rangers and Scotland winger Willie Henderson, 69, led a team of 22 fundraisers through jungle across the west coast of Java to the slopes of Mount Krakatoa.
They finished their seven-day journey on Tuesday, raising thousands of pounds in aid of his daughter Michelle's charity, the Michelle Henderson Cervical Cancer Trust.
Michelle died on her 28th birthday in October.
"She formed this trust after she was diagnosed with cervical cancer," Henderson said.
"The only thing she ever asked me in her life was to keep it going, so this is what I do now. It's been incredibly touching to see the way so many people have supported it and given so much in donations."
From 1974 to 1976, Henderson played for Hong Kong Rangers and Caroline Hill.
When he was with Hong Kong Rangers, the team was captained by Kwok Ka-ming, who is now chief technical consultant at the Hong Kong Football Association.
But it was while playing with Caroline Hill that he had his happiest memories.
"We won everything with Hong Kong Rangers, but when I was with Caroline Hill we won the Viceroy Cup final by beating Seiko 2-0," he said.
"They were by far the best team in Hong Kong at the time. We were huge underdogs and we played in front of 30,000 fans. It was like Berwick Rangers beating Celtic in a cup final.
"I had a very successful time out in Hong Kong. The teams trained hard and the players were very professional. I had some great times out there."
Henderson was capped for Scotland 29 times and spent most of his career with Glasgow Rangers. He also played for Sheffield Wednesday in England.
Since finishing his career as a professional footballer, he has been keeping himself in good shape and it was this that helped him complete the 100-kilometre challenge.
"It wasn't easy at times but I trained every day for nine months for this. There was no way I wasn't going to finish it," he said.
