Funds raised at charity match
More than £2,000 raised at a charity football match in memory of a Hednesford Town FC super fan was handed to the Midlands Air Ambulance.
John Rafferty died a year ago after a fall while on holiday, and in September Hednesford played an all-stars team made up of ex-players from leading West Midlands clubs in his memory.
Pop Popovic, a family friend, said: "John died tragically a year ago while on holiday in Tenerife. He had a fall and never came out of a coma.
"He was very well respected among Hednesford residents and was a big West Bromwich Albion fan and Hednesford Town fan.
"He was very well known in the sporting community.
"John was the life and soul of the party, nobody had a bad word to say about him.
"He was a social electrician, he would light up a room, it's a sad loss for the community."
In May Pop was asked to put together a charity game so we decided to have this in honour of John.
"We had an all-star team with players from Walsall, Aston Villa and West Brom and they played Hednesford on September 15.
"It went really really well, we had more than 650 people attend including notable people.
"We raised more than £2,000 for the Midlands Air Ambulance and it will also pay for a memorial bench which will be at his home for his widow Linda.
"We are very conscious living in Cannock Chase how important the air ambulance is to our community."
