DAVE EDWARDS is auctioning his treasured Wales shirt from the Euro 2016 triumph over Russia to raise money for charity.
The Shrewsbury midfielder, 34, is a director of the Little Rascals Foundation, which provides support for over 100 families with disabled children in Shropshire.
Dave Edwards is aiming to raise money for the Little Rascals Foundation
Now a lucky bidder has the chance of getting their hands on Edwards’ match-worn shirt, which has been signed by Chris Coleman’s squad including goalscorers Gareth Bale and Aaron Ramsey from the 3-0 win in Toulouse.
Edwards is hoping to raise £2,000 ahead of tomorrow’s 7pm deadline as the former Wolves star tries to keep the community centre afloat during the coronavirus crisis.
Edwards said: “We have a soft play centre in Shrewsbury called Little Rascals so any customer that comes to visit or money they spend goes into the foundation’s pot and that will be spent on delivering our services.
“We do amazing work but it’s been jeopardised by the situation at the moment.
“We have specific opening times at the centre a couple of times a week just for children with disabilities, we have kids with autism and when they are in environments in the general public parents aren’t sure how they are going to react so it makes things easier for them.
“We do holiday clubs and after school clubs as well as mentoring.
“But the centre is going to be shut for a long time as it is going to be one of the hardest places to reopen because of social distancing.
“The coronavirus has had a real impact on staff members and the services we can deliver. If it wasn’t there it would affect a huge number of families, not just in Shropshire but the Midlands as well.
“We have been trying to come up with different ways to raise money just to make sure we are still here when we come out of this ordeal. We’ve got rent on the premise and bills like coffee machines to pay for.
“We are a secondary charity behind places like the NHS, who do such amazing work and that’s the focus of where people want to give and I totally understand that.
“But smaller charities are going to have a big problem six months down the line and some might not be able to survive. I wanted to offer something with value.”
Edwards played three games for the Euro semi-finalists four years ago and says the Russian triumph was the best Welsh performance of his career.
The 43-cap ace added: “I looked through my collection to see what I thought people might be interested in and get their hands on.
“The Slovakia one is framed up on my wall at home, the England one is framed at Shrewsbury’s stadium so the next one was the Russia game. It’s signed by all of the lads.
“I thought it would be a great one for hopefully a Welsh fan, if not a football fan, to win it.
“Looking back on games I’ve seen as a Welsh supporter and player it’s the best a Wales team has performed even up to this day. We were incredible. The actual performance was complete.”
Donations for the shirt can be made over PayPal via www.paypal.me/littlerascalsfound
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
