Young footballers step out in memory of their much-loved coach

Young footballers stepped out in memory of their late coach at the weekend.
By Janet Hall
Published 19th Apr 2019, 11:00 BST
The Longhoughton Lions mascots line-up on the pitch with Morpeth Town.The Longhoughton Lions mascots line-up on the pitch with Morpeth Town.
The Longhoughton Lions mascots line-up on the pitch with Morpeth Town.

The under sixes of Longhoughton Rangers Lions were mascots at Morpeth Town’s match on Saturday.

Their coach, Jimmy Ryder-Somerville, who died suddenly last month, had arranged for his team to do the honours for the Highwaymen’s game against Pickering.

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Jimmy Ryder-SomervilleJimmy Ryder-Somerville
Jimmy Ryder-Somerville

But bad weather meant that game was postponed and the youngsters had the thrill of being mascots for Morpeth’s 3-1 win over Pontefract, which saw them become champions of the EVO-STIK League East Division.

Jimmy’s widow Sam said: “It was a fantastic day. The Lions were fabulous. Morpeth won and one of the goal scorers dedicated his goal to Jimmy.

“It was a bit of a dream really. Perfect.”

Jimmy, 48, died while playing with his Longhoughton Rangers Spitfires walking football team.

The under sixes take shots at the Morpeth goal.The under sixes take shots at the Morpeth goal.
The under sixes take shots at the Morpeth goal.

The Morpeth Town mach-day programme paid tribute to Jimmy.

It said: ‘The club are reeling after losing their coach, who passed away unexpectedly. Jimmy had been looking forward to seeing his squad leading out the Morpeth Town team, but tragedy struck at the start of March.

‘People like Jimmy are the core of junior football and without coaches like him, our sport wouldn’t be the same.

‘We send our sincere condolences to his family at this unimaginably difficult time.’

Related topics:MorpethPontefract