Fifa tournament organised by Northampton teenager who lost his grandad to Covid-19 has already raised £1K

A young man whose grandad died with Covid-19 less than a month ago has already raised £1,000 in his memory.

Max Wright was keen to do something to help the fight against the virus after his grandad, Alan Wright, died at the age of 83.

The 19-year-old from Brixworth said: “My grandad was in a care home. He’d had Alzheimer's and dementia for a few years.

“A lot of people in the care home were diagnosed with coronavirus and then he started to show symptoms.

“Sadly he didn’t manage to shake it off and he passed.

“It’s a lot more real than you think. It’s easy to be in denial in this situation and think it won’t happen to your family, but it did happen to my family.

“I can’t stress this enough, if you don’t think it will happen to you, it might.”

Within a few days, Max, who is a manager at Northampton's O2 store, had come up with the idea to host an online Fifa tournament and had researched the best charity to raise money for.

He added: “Literally from the day it happened I was thinking there must be something I can do to help.

“The idea popped into my head while I was in the shower to do a charity Fifa tournament with friends and family and it expanded from there.

“I had the idea about three weeks ago and grandad died about three and half weeks ago so it has all happened really quick.

“I looked online to see which was the best coronavirus response team that fitted best with my grandad’s situation.

“The British Red Cross look after vulnerable people and the elderly and make sure they have food and everything they need. And families can tell them if an elderly person is alone and needs help.”

Max is hosting the tournament on PlayStation and Xbox, with both competitions including 16 teams.

Each person playing as a team is asked to donate £5 to play

“The first game was on Saturday, then we had more on Sunday and Monday and now we’re on a weekend basis as it’s the knockout rounds,” Max continued.

“There’s a small prize at the end paid from my own pocket, but a lot of people have said they’ll put it back into the charity anyway.

“I’ve been live streaming on Instagram to make it the best and biggest event I can.

“That has been the most testing part, having to do it all from home, but people are enjoying it.

“I’ve had a lot of positive feedback and people are really getting involved and it’s really helped streaming the games as people are watching them and donating.”

Originally, Max set his target for the fundraiser at £100, but has already reached a huge £1,000.

“I smashed the original target within ten minutes,” Max said.

“It then seemed to go round everywhere and reached £700 so I set a new target of £750, which I smashed within a few hours.

“We’re now at £1,000 which is a landmark and a dream. I didn’t think I would hit that.

“I have also had a lot more requests, but I don’t have to stop when this is all over.

“I’ve seen how much this has raised in a short period of time, so the next one could be for Alziemher’s or dementia. It’s definitely something I’m looking into, just not straight away.”

To watch the live stream of the games or to find out more about the tournament follow @charity_fifa on Instagram and to donate visit Max’s JustGiving page.

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