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A charity football match will be staged to mark
the first anniversary of the death of a teenage Walsall FC player who
collapsed on the training pitch. Friends of Anton Reid will play a
match at Rushall Olympic's ground next weekend.
The game will be staged in memory of the
16-year-old, who died last summer.
The youngster from Coalpool collapsed days before
he was due to receive his GCSE results.
Cash raised from the event will go towards Cardiac
Risk in the Young (CRY).
The memorial game, involving former team-mates
from Streetly AFC, takes place at the ground in Dales Lane on Sunday from
3pm. Admission is £3.
Former manager Tony Oakes, who has helped to
organise the match, said: "We want his name to live on and feel staging a
game each year is the best way to remember Anton, as he lived for his
football."
Walsall FC youth team player Anton collapsed and
died suddenly on the training pitch on August 20 last year despite frantic
efforts to revive him. Black Country coroner Robin Balmain returned a
verdict of natural causes at his inquest.
Pathologist Dr Ye Lin Hock told the inquest that
tests after Anton's death had discovered a heart condition known as
idiopathic left ventricular hypertrophy.
More than 1,000 fans packed out a match at Rushall
Olympic Football Club in Walsall last year to raise up to £4,000.
At Anton's inquest his mother Sonia Bailey said:
"Football was his passion."
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