Blyth Spartans have announced that they are to donate £2,000 from the FA Community Shield fund to local charity Callum’s Wish to Walk, the charity set up to allow eight year old Callum Brown to travel to St Louis, USA to have surgery to give him the chance to walk for the first time in his life. The club were given the money to donate to a local charity by the Football Association as a reward for reaching the First Round proper of last season’s FA Cup.
Spartans season ticket holder Callum(pictured above with Spartans midfielder Neal Hooks and his Father Neil) suffers from Cerebral Palsy and travelled to St Louis Children’s Hospital in January for an operation on his spine called selective dorsal rhizotomy surgery. Now Callum is back home and is currently undergoing intensive rehabilitation to strengthen his leg muscles with the aim of helping him walk unaided with twelve months.
Along with his parents Neil and Sharon, Callum has become a regular face – and voice it must be said – at Croft Park since September when the club rewarded him for his bravery with a season ticket for the 2012/13 season. Callum and his parents took to the field on Saturday to receive the cheque prior to the club’s penultimate home game against Grantham Town from captain Wayne Buchanan and midfielder Stephen Turnbull.
Spartans General Manager Ian Evans said “When I received the letter from the FA reminding us of our charity windfall I immediately thought of Callum. We did obtain other nominations but the board were unanimous in their decision to award the money to Callum’s Wish to Walk. I was actually talking to Callum and his mum on Tuesday, they are fully appreciative of our gesture and we all hope that the money will go towards help with his rehab”
Callum’s Mother Sharon commented “We are over the moon with the nomination never mind winning it. Callum has become a life long fan and this donation has made his dream of being able to kick a ball around the field closer to becoming a reality. This will pay for two solid weeks of intense physio which make him so much stronger”
The Football Association Community Shield Fund provides a reward for all clubs who are successful in reaching the first round proper of the FA Cup. Each member club who achieves this are given £2,000 to donate to a local charity and the funds come from money raised at the traditional season opener the Community Shield. That money comes from the general admission ticket income net of the match expenses and from the sale of the match programme. The 2012 FA Community Shield contribution to the fund amounted to a massive 68% of the total match day income.
A section of that income is divided equally amongst the 124 eligible clubs with the rest of the income going to official FA Charity Partners The Teenage Cancer Trust, The Bobby More Fund and the Sir Bobby Robson Foundation.