Danny Jones: Keighley chairman wants £1m for late player's family

Keighley chairman Gary Fawcett hopes a fund set up for the family of the late Danny Jones will eventually top £1m.

Jones, 29, collapsed by the side of the pitch during Sunday's League 1 game at London Skolars and was later pronounced dead of a suspected cardiac arrest.

Donations for Jones's wife, Lizzie, and their five-month-old twins have already passed £70,000.

The Rugby Football League's target is £100,000 but Fawcett says it "needs to be over £1m".

The RFL's benevolent fund has so far received 4,500 donations and will be boosted further by proceeds from Keighley's next match against Coventry at Cougar Park on Sunday, which Jones' family is expected to attend.

Keighley players' shirts have been embroidered with a tribute to Jones before this weekend's match

"At the time of writing, the fund that has been set up for Lizzie, Bobby and Phoebe stands at £72,000 and I know that there is a huge amount of fundraising to be done over the coming weeks," Fawcett said.

"We all know that there will be a wave of donations from all the rugby league clubs, in particular, over the course of next week which will smash the RFL's current £100,000 target for the fund.

"This is fantastic and amazing and yet it is simply not good enough."

Jones, who began his career at hometown club Halifax, scored more than 1,000 points in 150 appearances for Keighley and won 12 caps for Wales.

Keighley are to retire Jones' squad number six and rename their main stand the Danny Jones Stand.