Football -mad mates raise thousands for Bradley Lowery Foundation with sponsored match

The devoted Sunderland fan lost his life to neuroblastoma cancer in July 2017 at the age of just six.

Pictures of the Blackhall Colliery youngster in his beloved Sunderland shirt touched the hearts of football fans around the world.

Bradley’s story convinced fans of clubs nationwide to come together and show their support for his recovery.

When Bradley passed away, parents Gemma and Carl set up the Bradley Lowery Foundation in his memory to keep his legacy alive by supporting other poorly children and helping those who care for them.

One of Bradley’s last family holidays was to Scarborough and the Foundation is building a holiday home there on land gifted to it by Scarborough Borough Council.

Bradley Lowery House will allow other sick children and their families to enjoy a break in the seaside town.

A group of Sunderland friends have been passionately raising cash for the last three years, first for Bradley’s treatment and more recently, for the Foundation.

And appropriately enough, they have chosen football as the means to bring in the money, with a series of sponsored matches.

The latest fundraising clash between Lowery’s Lads and Josie’s Giants was held at the Silksworth Sports Complex on Saturday, July 6.

Jack Murray, one of the organisers, explained what went on: “It is basically just a big bunch of mates who get split into two teams,” he said.

“We first started raising money for Bradley when we heard we had relapsed in 2016. We put a team together and played our first match.

“From then on, we really felt we had to keep raising money for him.

Before the latest match, the team had raised almost £8,000, but Jack hopes the latest game will have seen their efforts see the tally crash through the five-figure barrier.

“With today we think we have broken through £10,000,” he said.

“The target was £2,000, but we thin we will have raised about £2,2000 by the time all the pledges and donations have come in.”