Young footballers with a Telford Junior League side helped raise £500 in memory of a 15-year-old former team-mate who died from a rare heart defect

Luke Morris died last August and members of the Dawley Wanderers team handed the money over to Ian Morris, Luke’s father.

Mr Morris, from Claverley, will pass the money onto charity Cardiac Risk in the Young (CRY) which raises awareness of Sudden cardiac death syndrome and other conditions in youngsters.

Football-mad Luke, a former pupil of Phoenix School, Dawly, Telford, and who used to play for Dawley Wanderers, collapsed and died during a game of basketball in his mother’s garden.

An inquest heard Luke had been suffering from ventricular dysplasia, a form of heart muscle disease which affects just one in 5,000 people. He had twice previously been taken to see doctors after suffering a series of blackouts after playing sport, but GPs had put the episode down to asthma and dehydration.

Even a heart scan failed to diagnose the irregularity.

The money was raised by the annual seven and five-a-side football tournament organised by Steve North of the Wanderers.

Teams paid £20 to enter and part of the proceeds is traditionally given to charity.

Mr North said: “Luke was a big part of the club and we wanted to do right by him, something to honour his memory.

“We thought that by raising money for the CRY charity, we would be helping in our own, small way.