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Two Sunday League pub team players will experience
the football thrill of a lifetime at a bitter sweet occasion at Hinckley
tomorrow.
Adam Griffiths and Giles Wilson will be playing
alongside soccer legends who are gathering at the Marston's Stadium to pay
their special tribute to Matt Gadsby, a player whose life was cruelly cut
short.
They were the winners of an auction at the Queens
Head pub at Newtown Regis, the player's home village, where the shock of his
sudden death struck deep at the heart of a tightly-knit community.
Griffiths paid £275 to play in the first half of
the memorial match and Wilson made a successful bid of £265 to play for the
legends in the second half.
Matt Gadsby collapsed and died while playing for
Hinckley United at Harrogate last September. He was 27 and left a wife
and baby daughter and the tragedy touched the soccer world.
Thousands of pounds have already been raised for
the fund set up to help them and that will be swelled tomorrow when former
England internationals play in the Matt Gadsby Memorial Match at the
Marston's Stadium.
Peter Shilton, Matt Le Tissier, Paul Merson, Nigel
Winterburn, Steve Hodge and Paul Parker are among the players who will lace
up their boots for the Legends X1.
They will be joined by Leicester City legends Matt
Elliot and Gary Taggart and their former Foxes colleagues David Speedie and
Gary Mills.
Jan Molby, Gar McAllister, ex-Coventry City trio
Dave Phillips, Micky Gynn and Nicky Platneur, ex-Wolves midfield maestro
Micky Holmes and the former Birmingham City trio of Paul Devlin, Martin
O'Connor and Ian Clarkson will all be taking part as the soccer world
remembers one of its own.
The game is being sponsored by Pink Estate Agents
and the Legends X1 will wear a kit for the day that has been provided by
Umbro.
They will be managed by Barry Fry, one of soccer's
most colourful characters, and will take on Hinckley United in the first
half and then in the second half they will face a team made up of Matt
Gadsby's former team-mates at Kidderminster Harriers, Mansfield, Town,
Walsall and Forest Green, all of the clubs he played for before he joined
Hinckley.
Hinckley Marching Band will be out in the middle
of the pitch from 1pm while supporters soak up the atmosphere and the True
Blue cheerleaders will be performing during the interval.
Representatives of the charity CRY, Cardiac Risk
in the Young, will be handing out leaflets to raise awareness of the efforts
they are making to avoid similar deaths to Matt's.
After the game, fans will get a chance to mix with
the players and a question and answer session will take place from 5pm in
Lacey's Bar.
Admission for the game is £5 for adults and £3 for
concessions and special corporate spaces are still available at £25 per
person or £250 a table which includes a three-course meal and a chance to
meet the players before the game. Kick off is 2pm.
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