A FOOTBALLING hero yesterday urged people to sponsor him as he started a 190-mile walk for a children's heart charity, despite having a heart condition himself.

Goalkeeper Tony Norman spent seven seasons with Sunderland and played at Wembley in the club's 1992 FA Cup final, which Liverpool won.

The keeper, who won international caps for Wales, retired from football in August 1997 and began a career as an officer with Durham Police.

But he had to retire from the force after he was diagnosed with cardiomyopathy, a condition in which the heart becomes enlarged.

Mr Norman, 47, who is on medication for his condition, will spend 17 days walking the coast-to-coast route from St Bees, Cumbria, to Robin Hood's Bay, in North Yorkshire, to raise money for the Children's Heart Federation.

The national charity helps young sufferers of heart problems and their families.

To sponsor Mr Norman, write to Tony Norman Coast to Coast, c/o Carol Davidson, PO Box 142, Houghton-le-Spring, Tyne and Wear, DH4 7WS.