Elliot Anderson: Nottingham Forest's Rising Star in Testicular Cancer Awareness Campaign
Elliot Anderson arrived at Nottingham Forest last summer with a hefty price tag and a reputation built more on promise than proof. A North East talent swapping Tyneside for Trentside, he stepped into a club fighting to stay in the Premier League and into a division that exposes any weakness without mercy.
He hasn’t flinched.
Regular minutes at the City Ground have turned potential into substance. Anderson now ranks among the Premier League’s most effective ball-winners, a midfielder who tops recovery charts and refuses to hide when the tempo spikes. Seven senior England caps have followed in a whirlwind rise with the Three Lions, confirmation that his impact stretches well beyond Nottingham.
None of this shocks Henri Lansbury.
The former Forest captain, back in the spotlight as he helps front the ‘Check Your Bally’s’ campaign for Testicular Cancer Awareness Month, sees in Anderson a player cut from a cloth he recognises.
“He's been probably my favourite player when I've been watching Forest. He's really come in and set the team alight,” Lansbury told GOAL. “To be fair like [Morgan] Gibbs-White as well - them two connect well. I think they've really helped, but Elliot for me is a standout player and I think going forward - he's only just starting really isn't he - he could really step up and be a shining light.”
That understanding with Gibbs-White has become one of Forest’s most reliable attacking triggers. When the pair click, Forest play on the front foot. When they fade, the team often goes with them. Anderson, though, rarely drifts out of games. His numbers with the ball are strong, his work without it relentless.
The obvious criticism hovers over his goal return: four strikes in 89 Forest appearances. For a midfielder with his technical quality, that column looks light. Lansbury hears the question, but he isn’t buying the concern.
“Possibly but you're picking nits out of it,” he said. “The stuff he does during the game, you'd always want him in your team. He's got a bit of magic and he plays forward, which I like as well, and he's not afraid to keep getting on the ball. If he makes a mistake, he puts his foot in. He's just everywhere on the pitch, which is brilliant.”
That willingness to show again after an error, to demand the ball and then go and win it back if he loses it, has quickly made Anderson a reference point in Forest’s midfield. In a relegation scrap, that mentality matters as much as any metric.
This weekend, the stakes spike again. Burnley visit the City Ground on Sunday in a meeting that both clubs will have circled in red months ago. It is the kind of fixture that defines seasons: tense, scrappy, decided by fine margins and one moment of clarity or chaos.
Usually, fans dread one thing in games like this: a long delay while the referee draws a rectangle in the air and waits for VAR to intervene. Not this time.
For once, the sight of a referee jogging to the monitor will carry a different weight. Lansbury, diagnosed with testicular cancer in 2016 at just 25 while on Forest’s books, is helping turn those pauses into something powerful.
“Hopefully it works in our favour,” he said with a smile. “They're going to donate £100 every time VAR is checked over the weekend so if everyone can start doing the VAR screen sign and try and get the referee there as much as possible, the donations will be greatly received.”
Every VAR check across the Premier League this weekend will trigger a £100 donation from Bally Bet to The OddBalls Foundation as part of the ‘Check Your Bally’s’ push. The idea is simple and sharp: if football can stop to check offsides and penalties, supporters can take a moment to check themselves.
For Lansbury, the campaign is personal. His own diagnosis came during his five-year spell at Forest, a period in which he wore the armband and carried responsibility for a club still chasing its way back to former heights. The experience shaped how he saw leadership, on and off the pitch.
Asked what kind of captain he wanted to be, the Arsenal academy product was clear.
“Someone that led by example on the pitch,” he said. “Obviously I had Chrissy Cohen in front of me and he was a great role model and such a shame that he had to finish early with his knees because he was someone that I really looked up to when I first went there and he welcomed me with open arms.
“Obviously taking the armband was amazing for me, but personally I wanted to do it on the pitch. I'm not really a shouter in the changing room, my motivation is for them to see me working hard on the pitch and I felt like I gave that to Forest.”
He has always gravitated towards captains who let their performances do the talking.
“I think so, I like to see someone step up and really take the game,” he added. “If you're wearing the armband, it does come with a bit more pressure because you are the captain of the team and you do have to perform.
“Some players do scream and shout to get themselves going but for me, I prefer someone that you look around, he's got the armband on and he's grafting, he's doing well, he's playing, he's doing everything and I feel like you get a positive connection off that when you're playing with someone like that.”
That description could easily be mapped onto Anderson now: a midfielder who covers ground, hunts the ball, looks forward, and sets a tone by sheer force of effort. He may not wear the armband, but he plays as if the responsibility sits on his sleeve.
Around him this weekend, the wider campaign will be impossible to miss. Bally Bet’s ‘Check Your Bally’s’ message will run across stadium LEDs, the big screens and the matchday programme at Forest vs Burnley on April 19, turning the City Ground into a live platform for Testicular Cancer Awareness Month. The OddBalls Foundation will be on site, with trained professionals available for supporters who want to talk, ask questions, or simply listen.
VAR checks have become part of the modern matchday soundtrack, a chorus of groans and held breaths as replays roll. This time, every delay will carry a reminder that some checks matter far more than a marginal offside.
For Forest, survival will hinge on players like Anderson dragging them through afternoons like this one. For everyone watching, the message is blunt and overdue: if the game can stop to check, why shouldn’t you?
