Baron also played for Bidvest Wits, Kaizer Chiefs, SuperSport United & Bafana Bafana.
“At the moment almost 1.1 million Kroner has been raised to help Emile Baron after Norwegian TV2 published a story about his difficult life in South Africa,” Lillestrøm communications head Morten Stokstad told TimesLIVE.
“The initiative came from our supporters, 'Kanari-Fansen', but the club has also been working with the supporters on it. It's pretty amazing. Of course, many of the contributors are fans of Lillestrøm, but many people from other clubs have also contributed.”
Stokstad added that they have roped in former Premier Soccer League CEO Kjetil Siem to help with distributing the funds to Baron in a responsible manner.
He has since fallen into poverty and struggled to make ends meet for his wife and two teenage sons. Baron’s situation was brought to the public by Norwegian channel TV 2, which did two reports on the former goalkeeper.
Baron admitted that things got so bad he tried to take his life four times, most recently in November, while he also got evicted from a small one-bedroom house recently.
Upon hearing the sad news around Baron’s situation, fans of Lillestrøm, the club Baron played for between 1999 and 2005, called for a massive donation drive in Norway, with donations coming from nearly 5,000 people.
“There are many people who were very upset to see how Emille is doing. There are many, many people who want to contribute,” Morten Stokstad, media and communications manager at Lillestrøm told TV 2 after the club had teamed up with official supporters’ group, Kanari-Fansen.
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