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.
