Football fans to hold fundraising match in South Shields inspired by former Sunderland player Jermain Defoe's support for Bradley Lowery

The fundraising game, which will take place at the Harton and Westoe Miners’ Welfare ground in Low Lane, is being organised by three football fans, including Jordan Newcombe, a student at South Tyneside College.

All proceeds generated from the occasion will go to South Shields-based charity Autism Able and the Bradley Lowery Foundation, set up in memory of the brave North East boy who lost his life to terminal childhood cancer neuroblastoma

Jordan, 19, said the match will be the first time his charity team, the Black Cats Rovers, are due to play together.

"We started a [Sunderland supporters’] Youtube channel and took inspiration from all the work Sunderland had done with Jermaine Defoe and little Bradley,” he said.

“We also both managed to get sponsorships sorted – Karl secured Autism Able and I got the Bradley Lowery Foundation.

"They said we could arrange games for charity and so I turned around to Karl and said, ‘Do you want to do a charity match?’”

Black Cats Podcast founder, Karl Mawson, 35, and Acacia Cameron-Jude, who lives in Sheffield, are working with Jordan on organising the event.

Jordan also revealed the Black Cat Rovers have ambitions to go on and compete in Durham amateur leagues beyond the upcoming charity match.

The club hopes to be able to come to an agreement with Jarrow FC to share its ground for league games, while continuing to use the Harton and Westoe venue for future charity matches.

“We’ve done all this work to get the kits and pitches ready in nine days, which has been intense,” Jordan also said.

"But now it’s just all about building up towards the actual day itself. We’re training on a weekly basis, we’re all sticking in there and getting it sorted.

"It’s been amazing to feel such a huge buzz being created around this little club we’ve made.”

The charity match will kick off at 1.30pm on Thursday, August 15. Tickets cost £2.50 and are available via the match event’s Twitter page or at the door on the matchday itself.

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