FANS attending two of Tonbridge Angels’ recent home matches raised £1,710 for one of the club’s former players, Peter Overton. Another £2,000 was collected at a benefit match.
The 42-year-old ex-midfielder has been diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumour and has had to stop working as a roofer.
The money has been paid into a benevolent fund to help his family make ends meet.
Tickets for the Peter Overton Raffle were on sale at the Kent Senior Cup match against Maidstone United – another of the player’s former clubs – and the Bostik Premier League match against Folkestone Invicta.
Angels Chairman Steve Churcher said: “We may have ended up losing both games, but in reality it was a small matter compared with the very serious illness Peter is having to deal with.
“Football does sometimes get a bad press but at times like this supporters of different clubs set aside their rivalries and come together to help a really nice guy who lit up Kent football but who has recently hit some hard times.”
He added: “I would like to thank all those who donated prizes, helped to sell tickets and of course took part in the raffle including particularly those supporters from Maidstone United and Folkestone Invicta.”
A fundraising benefit match was held at Maidstone’s Gallagher Stadium, which raised a further £2,000. The game was between an ‘Ovey 11’ and Andy Hessenthaler’s All Stars.
Peter, who has been a roofer for 20 years, has been unable to work for the last four months.
In the match programme for the game against Folkestone he revealed: “If I get better maybe I can go back to work, but I won’t know that for about six months.”
He suffered three seizures on the plane when he was returning from a golf holiday in Portugal in May, and was in hospital for 12 days.
Peter recalls the moment when a specialist gave him the news: “On a scale of one to four, four is the worst, and that’s the one I’ve got.”
He added: “I’ve known other people with it, and some have lasted 20 years. But you’ve just got to be lucky.”
