THOUSANDS turned out for a rugby league festival at the weekend to honour three young men who were injured or killed serving their country.
Crosfields ARLFC hosted games honouring Tom Sephton, Steven Birdsall and Tom Coleridge to mark the national Armed Forces Day at its Hood Manor home on Saturday, June 24.
It was the eighth annual Tom Sephton Memorial Trophy match, with teammates of the former Crosfields player coming up with the idea to host a game in his memory after the 20-year-old was killed while on duty in Afghanistan in 2010.
A Crosfields Select XIII and the Army contested the Tom Sephton Memorial Trophy, while the Steven Birdsall Bowl saw the Royal Marines and the Army ‘A’ lock horns.
Marine Steven was shot and killed in Afghanistan weeks before his Great Sankey High School classmate.
Meanwhile, the Tom Coleridge Trophy, in honour of the former soldier who was badly wounded while fighting in Afghanistan in 2010 was played for by the Parachute Regiment and the Royal Air Force ‘A’.
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