8:00am Thursday 22nd July 2010
By John Boyman
FOOTBALL legends Clive Walker, John Bumstead, John Polston and Barry Hunter will be among the players turning out at the Camrose for Jason Bristow’s testimonial match this weekend.
Chelsea Old Boys will take on a Reading Ex-Players Charity XI at the home of Basingstoke Town on Sunday (kick-off 2pm) – bringing the curtain down on Bristow’s testimonial year.
“I am really looking forward to it,” the former Town captain said. “The day has been planned for a while so the anticipation is nearly over. It should be a good day.”
The Chelsea side will include legendary winger Walker, long-serving midfielder Bumstead, and Colin Pates, who captained the club to promotion in 1984. Trevor Aylott, Darren Barnard, Ian Britton, Keith Dublin, Gary Chivers, Gareth Hall, Dave Lee, Garry Stanley, David Stride and Paul Canoville will also line up for the Blues.
Reading will field defender Polston, who was a member of the Norwich side who played in the UEFA Cup, former Northern Ireland international Hunter and Scott Taylor, who was a member of the Reading team that lost in the play-off final at Wembley in 1995.
Steve Richardson, who had a spell as Basingstoke caretaker-manager, and former Town striker Neville Roach will also play, alongside Keith Scott, Paul Holsgrove, Graham Kemp, Jordan Lewis, Matt Stowell and Scott Williams. Bristow added: “It will be great to see some of those players turn out at the Camrose. It’s a good opportunity for supporters to see some of the stars of days gone by.”
Bristow was forced to retire due to a knee injury last year, and it was immediately announced that he would be awarded a testimonial season, which began last July.
“It was a very difficult time for me, so for the club to give me a testimonial season meant a lot,” he said. “It showed their appreciation. This is the last event of what has been a great year and it will be good to finish with the big one.”
The match will be preceded by a fun day around the ground, with a brass band, bouncy castle, penalty shoot-out competition, face painting and wide choice of food all available.
The day also has a charity aspect, with a proportion of the money raised going to St Michael’s Hospice in Basingstoke.
“A percentage of the money from all of the events have gone to the hospice, who looked after my nan and a few other people I have known,” Bristow said. “I would like to thank everyone for their support in the events we have had so far and I would urge people to come down and support the charity. It should be a good day.”
John Turner, chairman of the Basingstoke Town Supporters’ Club, who are organising the event, added: “We all really enjoyed watching Jason play. He has always been the perfect gentleman and he is now putting in a lot of time with the youngsters at the club. We are hoping to raise a lot of money and hopefully we will get a good crowd to give him a good send-off.”
Admission to the match will cost £5 for adults and £1 for under-16s.
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