Eddie Sharp was a lovely lad and a promising footballer. Almost 1,300 mourners attended his funeral following a road accident, overflowing the biggest parish church in the diocese of Durham.

Eddie died in February, aged just 23. This weekend his father is masterminding a huge fund raising exercise to buy equipment for Newcastle General Hospital, where they fought for a week to save him.

Originally they'd aimed for £5,000. Now they believe the total can be much higher.

"For a week I was in and out of the waiting room in intensive care and staring at me from the wall was a little notice asking if visitors could help the hospital," says Eddie senior.

"Hospitals shouldn't have to depend on charity, but that's the way it is and I want to do something.

"I'm still grieving, but I wanted to put it to bed. They all tried so hard for our Edward."

Eddie senior had played for almost every Northern League club in south Durham, been manager at West Auckland, Evenwood and Spennymoor and at 49 still turns out for the Lord Seaham at Silksworth in the Over 40s League.

His son had been player of the year in the Crook and District League, played for Tow Law and was with Consett when he was in an accident just a mile from the family home in Newfield, near Bishop Auckland.

"He just loved football and fishing," says his dad. "Where he went, I went."

Just five weeks ago, he and a group of friends met to discuss how they might help the hospital. The result, and the support, have been overwhelming.

This Saturday evening at Tindale Crescent WMC, near Bishop Auckland, there's a massive auction of shirts and footballs signed and donated by some of the game's biggest names.

Between them, Eddie and his associates knew the chap who lived next door to Arsenal's Francis Jeffers, the guy who's Paul Gascoigne's second best mate, the receptionist at Manchester United.

"It's all about contacts," says Eddie, "otherwise there's a two-year wait at Man United."

His brother's pub in Newfield overflows with evidence of football's generosity and of the affection in which young Eddie was held. Well over a dozen personally signed shirts include an England shirt from Gazza, a Newcastle United shirt from Alan Shearer and another from the entire team, Arsenal shirts from Jeffers and Wiltord and Steve Vickers' 1998 Coca Cola Cup final shirt with the Boro. Naturally there's a Sunderland shirt, too.

More shirts will be raffled on Sunday, at a match on West Auckland's ground between teams of professionals and ex-professionals led by Byers Green lad Mark Tinkler, now with Hartlepool, and Middlestone Moor born Paul Connor, who's at Rochdale.

Players will include Aidan Davison, Mark Proctor, Chris Turner, Steve Agnew, Mark Summerbell, Colin West, Nicky Mohan, Mark Summerbell and many others.

West hope for an 1,800 capacity crowd. "They've been absolutely fantastic," says Eddie, who also has four daughters. "One thing's certain, there'll not be many left in Newfield that day."

The appeal may also buy equipment for Bishop Auckland General, where both father and son worked on building the new hospital.

"People say they don't know how I do it, but it's what I want to do," says Eddie. "After that I can try to get on with my life."

l The auction, with entertainment, is at Tindale Crescent WMC from 7pm on Saturday July 27. The match at West Auckland FC kicks off at 11.30am on Sunday July 28 - adults £2, children 50p.

Fresh from feeding the birds, former Tyne Tees Television crooner George Romaines rang at 7.45am last Tuesday. The picture we'd said was of Seamus O'Connell was of his Bishop Auckland teammate Derek Lewin, he pointed out, and - as many others later confirmed - the early bird was quite right.

O'Connell, as we were saying, was a Cumbrian cattle dealer who, as an amateur, scored a hat-trick on his debut for Chelsea in October 1954. They still lost 6-5, at home to Manchester United.

O'Connell has long lived in Spain, generally in the vicinity of its golf courses. Derek Lewin, coincidentally, found him the house.

Enquiries have ranged from former Penrith FC stalwart Terry Mulryan to a Spaniard who had a chip shop in Windermere, and still we haven't been able to track him.

Closer to home, however, John Barraclough in Newton Aycliffe disputes the claim that O'Connell was the only footballer to win an FA Amateur Cup winner's medal and a first division championship medal in the same season.

"Though he played 18 matches, the League only allowed 12 medals to be struck and Seamus O'Connell wasn't chosen to receive one.

"It appears to have been a great travesty of fairness, but I suppose rules are rules."

On a weekend pass from National Service, Eddie Roberts was at Stamford Bridge on that memorable autumn afternoon. "Once they got through the turnstile, everyone started running for the paddock, where you had to pay again," recalls Eddie, now in Richmond.

His first choice of sporting venue that weekend had been the White City, sold out the previous evening, where Christopher Chataway raced against Vladimir Kutz.

The Echo recorded nothing of the epic encounter, only that the Rugby League was (again) considering two divisions, that 24-year-old Brian Statham had taken 6-23 for MCC against Western Australia, Olympic diver Charmian Welsh from Thornley, Co Durham, had added the English Schools title to her honours and a virtual Northern League XI had been chosen to represent Northern against Southern Counties.

It included, of course, S P O'Connell of Bishop Auckland.

Mike Franks also rang last Tuesday, following our note on Charlie Walker, the Demon Donkey Dropper of Eryholme. Word in the Otter and Fish, said Mike, was that Charlie only needed another 20 or so runs for his 2,000.

The word was 800 out. Though it may not be said that the Demon fast approaches anything - rather ambles towards in a gentle parabola - he needs just a handful of victims to make it an extraordinary 2,800 for the Darlington and District League side.

"It was 33 at the start of the season, so I must be close now," says Charlie.

He started in 1957, has never managed 100 wickets in a season but once bagged 96, and has discounted the prospect of reaching 3,000.

"It's taken me three years to get the last 100.

"I'll not be around long enough for that."

Despite his 6-53 two Saturdays back - "every dog has its day, even th'owld uns" - he was given just one ever (and not best pleased about it) in the weekend defeat by Heighington.

Whatever the total, however, Mike Franks is right about two things.

"He's been boolin' since before anyone can remember - and he's one of the nicest men in cricket."

Evenwood Town FC's researches into the appliance of science continue tonight with a visit from Dr Mark Nesti of Liverpool Metropolitan University. As well as putting the team through their carefully monitored paces, he'll also be showing a video - a video Nesti, as it were. More of the great experiment on Friday.

And finally...

the Premiership manager who became the first player to score a hat-trick against Rangers at Ibrox (Backtrack, July 16) was Sir Alex Ferguson.

Since we've been cattle dealing, readers may today care to name the football club which had a bull - the real thing, called Edgar or something - as its inarguable mascot.

Another cornucopia in three days.

Published: 23/07/2002