Club to ditch red kit to highlight knife crime

Middlesbrough players will wear all-white kits for their match against Coventry City

A football club is replacing its traditional red kit for one match to highlight the dangers of knife crime.

Middlesbrough players will wear an all-white strip for Saturday's home tie against Coventry City and are urging fans to leave their red shirts and scarves at home for 'No More Red' day at the Riverside Stadium.

The one-off kits will be auctioned after the Championship match with the funds going to local knife crime charity the Chris Cave Foundation and the MFC Foundation’s Kicks scheme.

The club hopes it will send a message, especially to young people.

Helena Bowman, Middlesbrough's head of business operations and community, said the club has "such a powerful remit" because the players are role models to supporters.

"This is a very serious issue affecting our community. We want to highlight this and make people aware of the dangers and the effects this has on the lives of people," she said.

The Chris Cave Foundation, set up by Theresa Cave whose son was fatally stabbed in Redcar in 2003, educates young people around issues of violent crime.

The charity's name will be displayed on the front of the player's warm-up shirts.

Ms Cave said she is "overjoyed" to have be chosen by the club and that the money raised "will be an enormous help to our work".