Mar 13 2009 by David Prentice, Liverpool Echo
SOME of the world's greatest footballers are set to grace Goodison Park, Prenton Park and Anfield in a massive fund-raising initiative by former Liverpool star Jason McAteer.
The Reds hero, 37, who helped raise $550,000 for victims of the 2004 tsunami, has arranged three star-studded football matches to be played at each of Merseyside's three major football grounds, with local children benefiting.
The organisers hope to attract names like Zinedine Zidane, Oliver Kahn, Lothar Matthaus and Marcel Desailly to the first clash, to be staged at Goodison Park on Saturday May 23.
The three-match event has been labelled CAUSE – Children's Aid Using Soccer Events – and the three designated charities to benefit will be Liverpool Unites, Save The Children and The Prince's Trust.
Money will also be made available to each of the staging clubs for their own charitable purposes.
Co-organiser Dave Lockwood said: “We raised in excess of $550,000 last time.
“It is dangerous to set numbers, but I think we would hope to raise $1m over three games this time.”
McAteer has joined forces with former team-mate Steve McManaman to attract some of the most prestigious names in football to the trio of matches.
McAteer said: “We only got the go-ahead for the game on Tuesday but we have been going through Macca's little black book ever since.
“We have spoken to showbiz stars like Gordon Ramsay, Tim Lovejoy and Chris Evans, while Westlife stars Nicky Byrne and Shane Filan have already confirmed their participation in the first match.
“The concept of the game is to get the three clubs uniting together in a common cause.
“Four legends from each of the three clubs will form a Merseyside team, against a European All Stars team.
“The event will be an entertainment showpiece as well as a football match.”
McAteer recently made a personal trip to Banda Ache to see how the Tsunami Aid money was being spent – but it was a tragedy closer to home which inspired him to launch CAUSE.
He said: “When Rhys Jones was shot and killed it touched everyone. His parents have maintained the utmost dignity at an incredibly difficult time and they hope to spread positive messages across the country, educating young people of the dangers of knife and gun crime.
“They are looking to build a youth centre for local children so we offered to help with that as well.
“Benefiting Liverpool Unites sort of made sense.”
The second match will be played at Tranmere Rovers later this year with Liverpool staging a third game in 2010.
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