Stephen Darby: Swindon fan raises cash to return shirt to former player

Darby was a teenager when he scored the winning penalty for Swindon in the 2010 play-off semi-final over Charlton

A Swindon Town fan has raised funds to return a special matchday shirt to former player Stephen Darby.

Darby enjoyed a spell on loan at Swindon in 2010 and scored the winning penalty in the League One play-off semi-final against Charlton.

He retired from football aged 29 in 2018, after being diagnosed with motor neurone disease (MND).

Fan Mark Hanrahan raised the cash to buy the shirt from the semi-final against Charlton and sent it to Darby.

Now he is trying to raise more money from fans to raise awareness of MND.

Mr Hanrahan said: "The Charlton semi-final is seared in the memory of any Swindon Town fan, because that was such a Roy of the Rovers moment.

"Stephen was a 19-year-old kid, stepping up to score the penalty in front of a packed home end.

"The way the game unfolded in such dramatic circumstances, you couldn't help but just go wow, that's the romance of football just typified."

Mr Hanrahan - who hosts a Swindon Town podcast - launched a GoFundMe page to purchase the shirt from a dealer and then arranged for it to be sent back to Darby and his family.

'Get our foot down'

The fund has raised £500 so far, with all additional money going to the Darby Rimmer MND Foundation - the fund co-founded by Darby.

Mr Hanrahan said: "Now we've got the shirt back to Stephen I just want to get our foot down and raise as much money and much awareness as we can around motor neurone disease and try to help Darby Rimmer MND contribute as much funds as they can to stimulate and promote research in the hope of finding a cure."

Full-back Darby also played for Liverpool, Notts County, Rochdale, Bradford and Bolton Wanderers during his career.

Mr Hanrahan said he was now in discussion with some of Darby's other former clubs to get more shirts back to him to commemorate more significant moments in his career.

"I just wanted to show him that all the Swindon fans are still with him even though it's been such a long time," Mr Hanrahan said.

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