CALVERLEY football club has set up a permanent legacy to its former chairman who died suddenly.

David Cooper, who served as a coach and chairman at Calverley United JFC for more than ten years, has had the club’s Volunteer of the Season award named after him at the Victoria Street club.

Mr Cooper, 54, died suddenly on holiday in Portugal in June last year.

Now his son Luke, 19 - who played for his father through from under-six to under-18s level - has awarded the trophy, re-named the Coopers Cup Volunteer of the Season award, for the first time at a club event.

He said: “To have a trophy named after my dad makes me feel very proud and I want to carry on his passion for helping the club and community.

“Dad was always a good laugh.

“He was committed to the club and always wanted the best for everyone else. He loved his football.”

Mr Cooper was also a Bradford City FC season ticket holder for 25 years and he helped to set up Calverley United’s first girls’ football team during his spell at the club.

Away from football, he was also owner and managing director of Alatas Engineering, at Olympic Park, Low Moor.

He is survived by his wife of 25 years, Carol, 55, and his other children, Lauren, 22, and Edan, 24.

Players he had previously coached reunited for a testimonial match in his honour at the club earlier this month.

The final XI won 4-0, made up of those who played under Mr Cooper in his last season at the club. They beat a past XI, a team of players who played previously under him but had left the club.

The event raised £450, which will be pumped back into the club and spent on equipment for United’s junior teams.

Luke, who also coaches Calverley United’s under-sixes team, made contact with his old team-mates for the memorial match.

He said: “It was a pretty emotional match.

“We did a minute’s applause for dad before the match too. We thought we would come together and play a match for him.

“Everyone was swapping stories about my dad. I had not seen some of the players since I last played with them five or six years ago.

“The match and the award are the best tributes we could have paid to him.

“The money that we raised from the match will be going back into the club and making sure it is spent on the junior sides in particular.

“I think we are looking at just doing the match as a one-off this year.

“He was very committed to Calverley.”