A North East football tournament raised more than £5,000 for a children’s cancer charity.

This is the sixth year NUFC Academy coach Gary Ives has organised the event to raise money for the Toma Fund.

The charity was set up by the parents of Jordan Thompson, who Gary coached at the Academy but who sadly lost his battle with leukaemia in September 2007 when he was just 15. Grassroots football teams from across the North East played against each other in a tournament to raise funds for the Toma Fund.

The tournament raised £5,150 for the charity, with the Boro Rangers Under-9s winning and the Cramlington Juniors Under-9s coming second.

Andrea Thompson, Jordan’s mum and charity founder, said: “This could not have been done without Gary Ives who worked so hard by recruiting the teams to enter, including shout-outs further afield like Middlesbrough to which both their teams went on to win the under 9s competition and the under 10s too.

“Gary also recruits the coaches and helpers who tirelessly join us and give up their time for free, some come along year after year and some joined us for the first time this year.”