Football fun at Mosborough FC to raise vital funds

Mosborough FC, which has nine junior sections and four adult sections, has run its annual tournament for the past three years raising around £9,000 in the process, but club secretary, Genna Knowles, said the club hoped to double that amount with its fundraiser on May 20.

Genna, whose son Alfie, 11, plays for the club, said: “We have run a charity day for the children’s hospital for the past three years now and have raised a considerable amount of money and this year we want to make the event even bigger and better.”

She added: “We have a player within our club, Leyton Wilson, who is the same age as my son and has played alongside him since they both played in the under-eights, and Leyton has been through a lot with the children’s hospital and we hold the charity day in his name.”

Genna said Leyton was initially told by doctors that he would never play football as his lungs were not strong enough and he was constantly out of breath, but he had defied the odds to become an integral part of the team, scoring plenty of vital goals as a striker.

His family said: “Our son Leyton was diagnosed with a condition called major examphalas (which means that when he was born all his internal organs were on the outside). When he was born he was transferred straight to the Sheffield children’s hospital, where he spent the first three months of his life. To this day now he still has to have further operations and he also has chronic kidney disease and is still fed via a tube,” with Genna adding: “He is an inspiration to us all.”

The fundraising day will start at 10am with the last match at 3.15pm, followed by an auction with gifts donated by local businesses and supporters of the club. “I would urge anyone to come along to support this worthy cause and help to raise vital funds,” said Genna.