ORGANISERS of a soccer tournament featuring star players are pulling out all the stops to hit home the fact that carbon monoxide poisoning is a real risk to families.
The You Are A Legend event, which will see Liverpool and England stars pitting their football skills against members of the public, has been organised to raise money and awareness for the Dominic Rodgers Trust.
The 10-year-old died three years ago at his Fartown home after breathing in fumes from a faulty boiler.
His mother, Stacey Rodgers, has since waged a campaign to highlight the dangers of the unseen and odourless killer.
Morris Simpson, from Sheepridge, organised the star-packed tournament, to be held at Soccer City, Waterloo, on November 2.
The event will feature football legends Bruce Grobbelaar, Alan Kennedy, Neil ‘Razor’ Ruddock, Ronnie Whelan and Mark Wright.
Morris, 35, is a friend of Stacey’s and decided to take action to raise awareness of the killer gas after his father was saved by a carbon monoxide alarm.
The star tournament competition is open to the public and the winning team will scoop £1,000, as well as go head-to-head with the stars.
The contest will be followed by a black tie gala dinner at the Galpharm Stadium. It will feature a meal, raffle and sports memorabilia auction and comedian Jimmy Bright.
Andrew Hobson, who is helping promote the event, said: “The response from the public has been fantastic. Lots of people have signed up to play in the five-a-side tournament.
“We have also had a lot of support from local businesses who are sponsoring the event and have put their names down for tables at the dinner.
“It’s going to be a fantastic community event and raising a lot of money from it is not what’s important to us. The most important thing is to raise awareness of the trust.
“The legends players were delighted to support it because it’s quite an emotive subject. A lot of lives have been lost through carbon monoxide.’’
Members of the public can come and cheer on the teams and the star players on the day. Entrance is £3 and the action kicks off at 11am. There will be plenty of extra entertainment.
Tickets for the dinner cost £40 a place (£400 for a table). For tickets and information on how to enter the tournament contact Mr Simpson on 07949 817185.
