THE Grinch will be the man in the middle as Santas take on elves in a charity football match.

This bizarre mix of festive friends will take to the home of Tadley Calleva all in a bid to support a five-year-old boy in his battle against cancer.

As previously reported in The Gazette Oliver Warner, of Farriers Close, Bramley, was diagnosed with high-risk neuroblastoma – a type of cancer that forms in certain types of nerve tissue - in 2016 a few weeks before his third birthday.

An urgent appeal has been launched by the Warner family to raise £203,000 to send Oliver to Barcelona to receive treatment which is not available on the NHS.

Since the appeal was launched, the community has rallied around the Warner family, including Tadley resident Neil Humphries.

For the last seven years, the 40-year-old has been organising charity football matches under the Big Match banner and wanted to use his contacts to support the Warner family.

He said: “Living in Tadley, news travels fast. I heard about Oliver’s story and I wanted to do something to help support the family.

“So, I thought if I can use my experience in organising charity matches to help Oliver, I should give it a go.”

Some of the players who are taking part are travelling from different parts of the country, with Oliver’s story making more people get involved.

“Once I told people why we were organising the match they wanted to instantly get involved,” Mr Humphries added.

“We just wanted to organise something that would bring the whole community together and try and raise as much money as possible.”

Both teams will have specially-made kits for the day, with a quiz being held after the final whistle. The match will take place on December 22 at Barlows Park with a 2pm kick-off.

To support the Warner family, text OLWA99 with an amount between £1 - £10 to 70070 or go to justgiving.com/campaign/oliverwarner.

You can keep up to date with Oliver’s journey by going to the ‘Oliver’s fight against Neuroblastoma’ page on Facebook.