A charity football tournament is returning to Warwick for the fifth year next month (July).

The Railway Football Tournament was first launched in June 2022 by Network Rail worker Gary Smith after his best friend was diagnosed with motor neurone disease and told he had only a few years to live.

Gary shared the tournament was aimed at raising money for those suffering from the illness and for his friend's family.

Sadly, Gary's friend passed two weeks before the first tournament took place.

Now about to mark its fifth year, the tournament is returning to Warwick on Friday 10 July at Racing Club Warwick.

Reflecting on how the event has grown, Gary said: "In the first year I was expecting eight teams to participate and in the end we had around 20 something teams and it has just grown from there, year on year."

This year, 35 teams are set to participate, with over 350 players across five pitches. A majority of the players will and have been made up of National Rail workers.

Since the tournament began, around £15,000 has been raised for a range of local charities and good causes. This year's fundraising target is £6,200, which would bring the total amount raised over the five years to more than £20,000.

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The two main charities being supported by this year's event are Helping Hands Charity, based in Leamington, and Colebridge Trust charity.

Money raised will also go to several other causes, including the Legend on the Bench cause at Racing Club Warwick, British Liver Trust in memory of Rob Coles, MS Society, to name a few.

Gary noted a huge part of the event has been made possible by Racing Club Warwick's chairman, Gary Vella, who has kindly offered the venue to host the event for free, and helped to organise drinks and food for the day.

Find out more here.