FOOTBALL fans are being urged to help a club achieve its goal by giving money to a hospice.

Middlesbrough Football Club has chosen the Teesside Hospice, in Middlesbrough, as its charity for 2003.

The club is urging supporters to bring extra small change with them when Boro plays West Bromwich Albion next month. There is to be a bucket collection on the day of the match - April 21 - and fans are being asked to take an extra 21p to drop into the buckets.

The hospice is celebrating its 21st anniversary with the launch of three-foot-tall collection cylinders. Among the players supporting the campaign is Michael Ricketts, who wears the team's number 21 shirt.