Meet Jude Bellingham's dad, the 'prolific' striker

Mark Bellingham, pictured with Jude and Denise Bellingham, was a prolific striker in non-league football

The club where Jude Bellingham's father started his footballing career is hoping his son can fire England to glory in the Euro 2024 final.

Mark Bellingham, 48, scored his first of more than 700 goals in non-league football at East Thurrock United.

The club went into liquidation in 2023 but fans have worked to resurrect the Essex-based side under a new name, East Thurrock Community Football Club.

Jono Edwards, its vice-chairman, said he hoped the club's Bellingham "claim to fame" could be strengthened if he propelled the national team to become European champions.

Bellingham senior, a Southend United fan, played for East Thurrock United in the 1994-95 season, Mr Edwards said club records had revealed.

He scored his first goal on 16 August 1994 in a 5-3 win away at Horsham Football Club, in West Sussex.

Jude Bellingham kept England's Euro 2024 hopes alive with a last gasp equaliser against Slovakia in the round of 16

"So yeah, East Thurrock have done their little bit for Sunday in the final," the vice-chairman told BBC Essex.

"Hopefully Jude will score the winner and we've got that claim to fame."

Mr Edwards said: "I don't think [Jude] knows who we are, but hopefully his dad told him."

Gary Petchey, a committee member at the side, added the Bellingham association was "a nice story to have" among its folklore.

'Prolific'

During his time in Essex, Bellingham senior also enjoyed a fruitful youth spell at Southend-based Catholic United and went on to become a police officer in the area.

His later career saw him play for Leamington Football Club, in Leamington Spa, Warwickshire, where he scored 79 goals in 87 appearances.

"Put simply, Mark Bellingham is probably the most prolific Brakes goalscorer of all time," the club's website reads.

However, the striker returned to Essex via Wembley in 2015 when he watched Southend United clinch promotion from League Two in the play-off final.