'My son waited 90 minutes for an ambulance, so I launched a charity to help injured young players'
A dad has turned his son's painful experience on the football pitch into a force for good
A dad has raised over £10,000 for emergency pitch shelters, after his son was faced with a lengthy wait for medical help following a junior football injury.
Ben Edwards, from Hemsworth, started the Yorkshire Elite Football Club last October after his son Tom's injury while playing junior football.
Tom was aged 14 and playing for Askern Miners FC juniors away at Rossington when he broke his leg last year - but it took more than 90 minutes for an ambulance to arrive.
Tom had to stay out in the cold on the pitch with no shelter until help arrived.
Ben launched charity team Yorkshire Elite Football Club within weeks of Tom's injury with the intention of buying pop up shelters to give injured grass roots football players shelter and privacy.
The Yorkshire Elites charity team - made up mostly of around 30 grass roots football coaches - has taken part in a string of fundraising games and have raised more than £10,000.
More than 500 spectators supported a celebrity charity football match at Pontefract Collieries FC yesterday (October 11).
George Best's son Calum and Ricky Hatton's son Campbell were among a Sellebrity XI playing a Yorkshire Elite FC side at Pontefract Collieries Hunters Stadium.
The cash raised at numerous fundraising games has been used to buy pop up shelters for around 70 grass roots teams.
Tom has recovered from his injury and now plays at Frickley Academy and in the Yorkshire Elites team.
Tom, now aged 15, said: I wouldn't want it to happen to any other kid. And I wouldn't want anybody else to feel how I felt on that on that pitch. I think it (the fundraising) is great."
Ben said the Yorkshire Elites want to raise enough money to provide emergency first aid shelters for every junior football club in Doncaster and Selby.
He said: “These shelters will give injured players privacy, warmth, and protection while waiting for medical help to arrive.”
Yorkshire Ambulance Service said they received emergency call at 10.24am on 19 October to a report a teenage boy injured in a football match at New Rossington, Doncaster.
A spokesperson said the service was experiencing "significant demand" and an ambulance reached the patient at 12.02pm.