A FOOTBALL team has donated their prize money to a hospital that helped an opposition player after the stillbirth of his son.

Steve Fawcett, from Middlesbrough, suffered the tragedy of his second child being stillborn just over six years ago

The 32-year-old, who has two other boys aged seven and three, was full of praise for the way James Cook University Hospital in Middlesbrough helped him during the difficult time.

His football team had planned to donate their prize money to the hospital if they were successful in the Tees Valley BME Cup, which was organised by community group TS1 Tees Valley.

His team ended up losing the final, but the captain of the winning team Jamin FC heard about the plans and decided to offer half of the £250 prize to the hospital, and give the other half to their chosen charity.

TS1 Tees Valley were so impressed by the generosity that they decided to match the donation and offer £125 themselves to the hospital.

Speaking about his loss, Mr Fawcett said: “It was really hard – it came as quite a shock for us.

“It has been a tough few years, and it was particularly hard for my partner at the time, but you have to try and be positive and life goes on.

“People deal with things in different ways – you have to be strong and keep your chin up.

Iqbal Ali, captain of Jamin FC, said: “We have got a great community – we just need events like this to bring the best out of people.

“If we didn’t have this tournament – we wouldn’t have know about this and the money wouldn’t have been given to any charity.”

“I am absolutely over the moon about this donation – I couldn’t have asked for anything more,” said Mr Fawcett.

Wajid Malik, chair of TS1 Tees Valley, said: “It is great for the area to see how much people care for each other – we hope next time we can have more entrants to the tournament and really showcase the best of the Tees Valley.”