THEY stood with their heads bowed in tribute to a little boy who lost his life in such a tragic way.

These soccer players paid a sombre homage to Ryan Hawkins before two games near the village where the youngster lived.

Ryan died from knife wounds at a house on Royd Street in Slaithwaite a week last Sunday. His father, 47-year-old Chris Hawkins, has been charged with his murder and the attempted murder of Ryan’s 14-year-old sister, Donna.

He has been remanded in custody to appear before Bradford Crown Court on Thursday.

Donna also suffered multiple knife wounds and underwent surgery at Huddersfield Royal Infirmary. She was allowed home on Sunday.

The four teams taking part in the minute’s silence at Linthwaite Recreation Ground on Saturday were Slaithwaite United, who were playing Shepley in a Huddersfield And District Division 1 league game, and Slaithwaite United Reserves, who were away to Linthwaite Athletic Reserves in the Reserve Division 2 match.

The Slaithwaite teams are based at Slaithwaite Cricket And Bowling Club – and little Ryan was a familiar figure there in his Spiderman outfit.

First team manager Peter Brooke said: “The tragedy has had a severe effect on our club and many members of our squad.

“We held a minute’s silence before the games and Shepley and Linthwaite were very kind in their attitude towards our mourning.

“Ryan was a much loved member of our club. His crazy Spiderman antics will be fondly remembered and sorely missed by us all.’’

We have been asked to point out that Mr Bob Burns, of Slaithwaite, was only spoken to by police as a potential witness and was not arrested in connection with Ryan’s death.