Sheffield Legends team including Brian Deane and Curtis Woodhouse raise £2,000 for Roundabout charity

They took on Hallam FC Veterans in the Harry Brearley Charity Cup, triuing 4-0, but the real winner was the South Yorkshire charity Roundabout.

The charity football match, hosted by property regeneration experts, Scarborough Group International (SGI) at its brand-new Community Stadium at Sheffield Olympic Legacy Park, saw the team of former Sheffield United and Sheffield Wednesday players take on the Hallam FC veterans.

More than 300 spectators saw footballing greats including Brian Deane, Tony Agana, Curtis Woodhouse, Greg Fee, Richard Cresswell, Lawrie Madden, Carl Bradshaw, Danny Webber, Mark Todd and Paul Devlin take to the pitch for 90 minutes under head coach Tony Currie, referee Uriah Rennie and match commentator Gary Sinclair, in the first official event at the new Community Stadium.

By the time the final whistle was blown, the event, which was sponsored by Scarborough-based athleisure brand Siksilk, had raised more than £2,000 for Roundabout.

Presenting the award to the Sheffield Legends was Anne Brearley-Rimer – the great niece of stainless steel inventor Harry Brearley.

The cup was named in his honour in recognition of the fact that he worked on the site of the Sheffield Olympic Legacy Park when it was Brown Bayley steelworks in the early 1900s.

“It was a great day of sport as well as a fantastic day of fundraising,” said Roundabout events fundraiser Emily Bush.

“In addition to the match itself, there was also a raffle and an auction with a signed match shirt from the Sheffield legends, plus a chance for some young supporters to be a Match Day Mascot for the walk out.

“And a post-match meet and greet and buffet at the Old Library gave fans chance to meet the teams, providing a great end to a memorable day.”

Kevin McCabe, chairman at SGI, said: “We’re incredibly proud of our new Community Stadium and are thrilled to see it formally opened in such a memorable way and that will be of tremendous benefit to Roundabout who do a fantastic job of supporting the city’s disadvantaged young people.

“A special word of thanks should go to Peter Beeby, who had an outstanding game for the Hallam FC Veterans and was instrumental in helping us pull the event together, as well as members of the Scarborough Group and SikSilk family, who became honorary Legends for the afternoon.”

As well as helping to raise vital funds for the charity, stadium owner and developer, SGI used the event as an opportunity for the local community to experience the new facilities, which has the capacity to hold 758 seated supporters under a covered grandstand, rising in time to around 4,000 as future development phases are undertaken.

Kevin added: “Constructed principally for the utilisation of football and rugby, but also other outdoor team games, we chose the name Community Stadium to reinforce the fact that it is accessible to members within the Don Valley area, from primary and secondary school children, to grassroots sports teams, as well as elite professional clubs such as the Sheffield Eagles, and we look forward to hosting many more community events in the future.”