FOOTBALLERS are to play a fundraising match to help repair dozens of graves destroyed in a vandal attack at a cemetery.

Players from Lion Farm Athletic FC are to honour the name of Simon Blakemore, whose headstone was one of 40 knocked over and smashed last Wednesday at Thimblemill Cemetery in Smethwick.

Mr Blakemore, from Warley, died in October 2009 aged just 35 after a blood clot caused a heart attack. He was a friend of Halesowen dad-of-three Stephen Worton, aged 25, who will be playing in tomorrow’s fundraiser.

“I felt sick when I heard the gravestones had been attacked,” said Mr Worton, who has organised the game with his sister and her husband, Charlotte and Gavin Green.

“It’s hard enough trying to get over a death in the first place without having to go through something like this.”