Benefit match for cancer stricken ex-Dale player

Former Rochdale fans favourite Ernie Cooksey is to have game played in his honour at the end of the season after he was diagnosed with cancer earlier this year.

Proceeds from the game will go towards the popular ex-Oldham midfielder’s treatment.

The game will pit a celebrity ‘John Sheridan XI’ against a combined Rochdale/Oldham side at Oldham’s Boundary Park ground on Sunday 11 May, kick off 2pm.

Admission to the game is £5 for adults and £2 for concessions.

Dale fans and football supporters in general are being asked to support this event in aid of a player who put his all into every game he played. He made 96 appearances in a Dale shirt, scoring eight goals. His proudest moment came when Dale faced Charlton Athletic in the FA Cup, the side Cooksey supported as a boy.

Cooksey’s current club Grays Athletic have also arranged a benefit match for him, his wife and young child. Grays will play All Stars on Sunday 27 April, 3pm kick off – again any exiled Dale fans are asked to support the cause. Matt Le Tissier, Neil Ruddock, Paul Merson, Iain Dowie, Rio Ferdinand, Justin Edinburgh and other Premier League stars past and present will be turning out in support of the cause.

Ferdinand and Cooksey became friends when they played together for the same youth side when they were growing up in South London.