I WISH fans and the media would stop calling sporting stars heroes.

They are not heroes. They just happen to be very good at what they do.

The real heroes, in my opinion, are the soldiers who, in the First World War, went over the top of the trenches to face German machine gun fire and the medics who tended the wounded in makeshift hospitals.

I could also mention the soldiers who stormed the beaches of Normandy on D-Day and the pilots who fought the Battle of Britain. They were out-gunned and out-numbered but their bravery saved our country and turned the tide of the Second World War.

Before them there were the brave souls who sailed their little boats to pluck our beaten Army off the beach in Dunkirk.

Anyone who has fought a war to defend the people of this small country are the true heroes - not someone who can kick a football.

Mick Peacock, Coxhoe.