Tribute to be held for Sir Bobby Robson before Community Shield at Wembley
FA announce there will be a minute's applause before kick-off in honour of former England manager
9 August 2009
THE Football Association will mark the passing of former England manager Sir Bobby Robson by holding a minute's applause before this afternoon's Community Shield game between Chelsea and Manchester United at Wembley.
The FA will also donate a pound for every spectator who attends the game to the cancer charity founded by Robson.
Seven-hundred members of the armed forces have also been invited to the match as a way of paying tribute to the work being done in Afghanistan.
The FA's chief executive Ian Watmore, who replaced Brian Barwick in June, said: "We've invited 700 of our troops from across the armed forces, men and women from all three services, as our guests.
"It is our way of saying thank you on behalf of the country. The second thing is with the death of Sir Bobby Robson.
"I think it has affected everybody deeply in football and the country as a whole"
"I think it has affected everybody deeply in football and the country as a whole. This is the first game that we will be responsible for since his death, so what we have decided to do specifically for this game is to have one minute's applause with black armbands worn by the players.
"We are also going to donate a pound for every member of the crowd to his charity. So £85,000, plus or minus, will go to his cancer charity in addition to the £75,000 we gave earlier this year."
Watmore also hinted that there could be a lasting memorial to Robson, but the exact nature of a tribute has yet to be fully discussed.
"We are going to think about that rather than rush into it but almost certainly we would want to do something in the longer term," he added.
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