Fabian Wilnis will be amongst the Town legends in action against a team of former Norwich City players in a charity match at the new Cedars Park Community Centre in Stowmarket on Sunday 22nd June raising funds for the NSPCC. The game will kick-off at 3pm and will be preceded by the inaugural match on the pitch between Cedars Park FC and AFC Hoxne, which starts at noon.
Wilnis says there’ll be some big names in action in the legends derby: "Kieron Dyer’s coming, Johnny Wark, Gavin Johnson, Neil Gregory, Jason Dozzell’s coming but he’s not playing, Titus Bramble I'm waiting to hear from.
"For Norwich, there’s Ruel Fox, Leon McKenzie, Damien Francis, while Dean Holdsworth is also going to play for them, as is Franky Fryer from Soccer AM.
"It’ll be a nice, busy family day for young and old. The weather forecast is looking good, there’s going to be a bouncy castle, face painting, a raffle and an auction.
"They’ve got some really good raffle and auction prizes. Trust me, I would turn up just for the auction and raffle prizes. I’m not going to tell you what they are, but they are that good!
"It’s going to be a good laugh for everyone and it’ll be a precursor to the real thing when it happens next season.”
The game is organised in conjunction with Fabprobags, Wilnis's latest business venture, and Santander bank.
"Fabprobag is a bag where you can put your matchday programme,” Wilnis explained. "With a programme, every time you go to a stadium you buy a programme but you don’t know where to put it.
"Now we’ve created a bag that you can put it in. Not just at football, but rugby, tennis, all other sports where they have a programme, and also festivals.
"People run around all day watching all the singers and artists perform and they normally don’t have any pockets but they have their mobile phones, wallets and other little things and they can put them in the bag. You hang it around your neck and it’s water resistant so your programme won’t get wet.
"When I go to a match I never know where to put my programme. It’s just too big to put in a pocket and too annoying to hold in my hand the whole time. Two guys came up with the idea and approached me and I thought it was quite handy.
"A lot of collectors who keep their programmes don’t want to get their programmes creased or wet or ruined, so they can put it in the bag.”
Already 600 tickets - at £3 for adults and £1 for children - have been sold for the game. They are available from the Cedars Park Community Centre office from Monday to Friday during office hours, The Aviary bar at all other times or branches of Santander in Stowmarket, Ipswich and Bury St Edmunds.
If any local businesses would like to get involved or advertise, contact Lee Godfree on 07787 568895.