MARATHON FOOTBALL ATTEMPT BEATEN BY THE WEATHER

A valiant attempt to play a 24 hour football match to raise funds for the Sir Bobby Robson Foundation ended earlier than planned due to appalling weather conditions.

Match officials were forced to call the game off after 13 hours play on safety grounds, much to the disappointment of players. 

However, the game raised a massive £5,400 for the charity and organiser Ian Carr, from Gateshead, is rightly proud of what the players achieved.

Ian says: “We’re disappointed not to have played the full 24 hours but completely understand the decision to stop play.

“We kicked off at 6pm and things were going well despite a bit of drizzle until about 1am.  That’s when the rain really started coming down and it was pretty unpleasant.

“There was torrential rain for hours and it showed no sign of letting up.  Eventually the St John’s Ambulance and match officials decided enough was enough.

“We were all feeling a bit down at first but now I think we’re all proud to have achieved what we did. 

“We’re really grateful to everyone who has sponsored us and helped us raise so much money for a very special cause.”

Players in the match came from Ashington, Morpeth, Tyneside and County Durham.  In addition, two soldiers travelled from Hull and there was a guest appearance from Tony ‘the Fridge’ Phoenix-Morrison from Hebburn who is running 30 half marathons with a fridge on his back to raise money for the Foundation.

Liz Luff, from the Sir Bobby Robson Foundation, says: “Ian and all the players, supporters and officials should be very proud of what they’ve achieved.

“The decision to stop play early was very sensible given how dangerous the playing conditions had become.

“The players are understandably disappointed but the weather was awful overnight and they showed great commitment to keep going as long as they did.  Thanks to everyone who contributed to the event and helped raise so much money for Sir Bobby’s Foundation.”