Simone Perolari

I was born in Italy, in 1976. I’ve been a freelance photographer since 2003, and am currently based in Paris. I started travelling and worked on several photography projects reporting the problems of immigrants in Italy, Spain, Greece and France from 2005 for Amnesty International. I have portrayed celebrities like Rafael Nadal, Elon Musk, LV, David Cameron.

Andy Allsopp and Marcus Farnsworth may not be names as familiar as Cristiano Ronaldo or Lionel Messi, but they’re football stars nonetheless. Andy, Marcus, James, Rob are players from the first MAN v FAT Football league. The league has been set up in Solihull near Birmingham and is exclusively for men who are BMI 30+. Players are supported with weight loss but also play football every week against other teams of obese men. After 14 weeks, 93% of the players had lost weight, shedding 1,727 lbs between them. Some players lost up to 26% of their body weight. Further MAN v FAT Football leagues are launching around the country after the successful pilot programme.

The league has had nearly 1,000 applications for the original 80 places on the first league. As such the demand has ensured that the leagues will continue and later this year MAN v FAT Football leagues will launch at all of the UK’s Powerleague venues, ensuring that the 20.4 million overweight and obese men in the UK will always have a place to get fit and beat fat.