Following the success of their first charity football in March, Lord Lawson of Beamish Academy hosted another, once again to raise awareness of knife crime.
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00:00 The AstroTurf pitch at Lord Lawson of Beamish Academy in Burtley once again came alive in memory of Thomas Olashac,
00:10 the student from nearby Cardinal Hume Catholic School who was tragically stabbed to death last year.
00:16 A charity football match occurred in March at Lord Lawson to raise awareness of knife crime and in Thomas' honour.
00:24 To mark a year since his death and to mark what would have been his 16th birthday, this match was replayed.
00:31 After all the pleasantries at the start and with the teams warming up, the match got underway.
00:37 And I spoke to Liam Kamisky, one of the teachers at Lord Lawson, who made clear why they were replaying it.
00:43 When we did it last year it was such a big success and the demand that followed it to have almost I suppose a rematch was quite significant.
00:51 I had students come to speak to me every single day saying 'when are we doing it, when are we doing it, when are we doing it?'
00:55 So we thought well actually let's do it sooner rather than later.
00:58 The timing was really nice because just last week would have been Thomas' 16th birthday.
01:03 So it's very nice that actually students, certainly those most affected by the passing of Thomas, have had a really positive focus
01:10 and they've kind of put all of their energy and all of their passion, all of their love into this football match here tonight.
01:15 So the money that we raised last year was incredible.
01:18 The amount of awareness we've raised of knife crime and just the fact that students want to do it again, it was a no-brainer to be honest.
01:24 Now last time you were a referee but today you played on goal for 20 minutes. How would you rate your own performance?
01:29 Yeah I'm certainly no Nick Poe but let's put it that way.
01:32 I can't say maybe three or four.
01:34 So yeah that didn't go to plan but I did manage to get up there for a couple of corners so maybe see if I could score from a corner there.
01:40 That wasn't a bee but it's all a good laugh and we achieved what we set out to achieve which is perfect.
01:46 Scarves were waved in memory of Thomas during the match with the game itself being quite the close encounter between the Black and Whites and the Blues.
01:54 With the Black and Whites having Newcastle United content creator Adam Pearson join their ranks for the final 20 minutes in goal.
02:02 Here's what he had to say.
02:04 Well it was incredible to be invited down Daniel. For me it's just a great opportunity to come down and spread some awareness towards such a serious incident with knife crimes.
02:11 It was a bit of an honour as well to be invited down to a school and have a chance to come in and meet everyone.
02:15 It was really fascinating to see everything take place for the first time. There's so many people involved.
02:19 It was great to see the students heavily run the event as well. It was incredible to see what would have been a great memory for Thomas.
02:24 Obviously you played on goal for the last 20 minutes. Only Conceiton won and your team won the game. How would you rate your own performance?
02:31 The distribution is terrible. I couldn't be here without my goal kicks.
02:34 I did what I could and it was a great experience. But of course the bigger thing about it is all the money being raised.
02:42 I think about £2,000 raised which is incredible just from a school game.
02:46 It was great to take part. As for winning goal, I'm not going to lie, I don't think I'll be playing goal again any time soon.
02:50 But it was a great experience to come down here and it was incredible to see everything take place.
02:54 Once again the students and staff of Lord Lawson North Bush Academy show just what can be done when they come together in memory of their friend.
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