A Lincoln Sunday league football manager will be remembered in a memorial game.
Steve Cawte, the former Hykeham Tigers manager and vice-chairman, had struggled with heart problems and died last summer.
He will be commemorated in a match on Friday, April 11, with money being raised for mental health charity Mind.
Steve’s wife Nikki, 40, said: “It’s overwhelming and a great testament. We knew how incredible he was, we knew what we saw in him, and we knew other people did too.
“But, what we are seeing now is so tangible to that. It’s not just people saying, ‘He is an incredible guy’, it’s people being inspired to the point of saying we need to do this and set this up in his name.”
Mental health, and Mind specifically, was a cause close to Steve, as Nikki explained: “Football is for everyone. It is not about how fit you are, where you are from, it’s not about gender, it’s about getting people together and letting go.
“So, I thought Mind was a really good way to connect with another side of what Steve was and what was important to him in grassroots football.”
Last April, more than £1,000 was raised at a charity match involving British Heart Foundation FC to help Steve get a heart transplant. Now, fundraising is being done in his honour.
Nikki added: “It’s the perfect thing in his name and it’s exactly what we would want for him.”
Steve juggled his publishing business with poetry and writing, while finding time for Hykeham too.
“This has helped us in our grief. We don’t feel isolated as a family, we feel empowered that we have got a community of grief around us and people get it,” Nikki continued. “You don’t feel like you’re shouting from the rooftop because people are shouting it back at us, which helps us to celebrate him.”
Gary Burr, who runs BHF FC has organised the match, which will see Hykeham chairman Matt Drury lace up his boots as part of the ‘Coaches’ team.
The 53-year-old said: “Steve was a pivotal part of the club for six or seven years. When he passed away last August we wanted something to permanently commemorate him, because he was so fondly thought of.”
Matt is the football development manager at Lincoln City, and has been involved with the Tigers for a decade.
“Steve always had an unbelievably positive outlook on life, he was one of those that you could always trust for really good advice. He was a really caring man,” he added.
Nikki, whose son Charlie plays for one of Hykeham’s 20 teams, continued: “If Steve could ever leave a legacy of any kind, it would be that he could still have a positive impact on things. That’s everything he was as a human, he was the most selfless person.”
An online fundraiser has been set up for the game, which will take place at Lincoln Moorlands Railway Club and see the inaugural Steve Cawte Charity Cup competed for.