MORE than 100 football fanatics flocked to Wallingford to play in a memorial tournament for a much-loved figure.

On Saturday eight teams battled it out in the fourth annual Charlie Allum football tournament.

He died aged 55 in 2011 from a rare form of bile duct cancer.

The Wallingford resident had been an integral part of the town’s football club, AFC Wallingford, for more than 30 years.

During that time he took on various roles including playing, coaching, managing and becoming the groundskeeper for the club.

As a result of his love for the beautiful game, the father-of-three’s son Chris Allum started a football tournament in his honour.

Chris, a 35-year-old recruitment consultant, said: “It’s always fantastic, it couldn’t have gone any better.

“The only thing that dampened the day was my team didn’t win.

“We got to the quarter-finals, but that’s not saying much because everybody got to the quarter-finals.”

The teams were named after countries Mr Allum had visited and were composed of friends and family.

In the final Spain beat the USA 3-1 to raise the Charlie Allum trophy.

At least 120 people played in the tournament, which was made up of all abilities and all ages.

Chris added: “There was a real mix of players.

“A lot of them played with Dad back in the day at AFC Wallingford.”

The tournament, which had more than 300 spectators, raised at least £2,750 for the charity AMMF.

AMMF fund research into finding new ways to treat Cholangiocarcinoma, the rare form of cancer which Mr Allum’s father had.

The father-of-two added: “Me, my sister and my brother always try to raise money for the charity as it’s something quite close to our hearts.”