(Ed’s note – We don’t normally give plugs like this, but the organiser’s an old and valued friend of The Gooner, so we are happy to make a rare exception.)

On Sunday 29th March 2009, at London Colney Football Club, one lucky person will get the chance to play for Arsenal. The event is the Arsenal Ex-Professional & Celebrity Xl Team against a Park Street School Select Xl. The money that is raised will go to the Arsenal Charitable Trust and Park Street School.

Included in the Arsenal squad are ex Arsenal stars like Perry Groves, Chris Whyte, Andy Linigan and Ian Allinson to name but a few. From the world of showbusiness are the likes of Phil Daniels (Eastenders), Tony Hadley (Spandau Ballet), Ralf Little (Royal Family), Robbie Gee (Prime Suspect) and Tommy Walsh (Groundforce). Amongst those from the world of sport are Mark Ramprakash (International Cricketer and Strictly Come Dancing winner), Martin Offiah (International Rugby Player) and Terry Marsh (World Champion Boxer) plus many more.

The day itself will include a children’s penalty competition, which is open to all, a dad’s penalty shootout and local primary school children playing six a side football. Also, there will be face painting, bouncy castles, a raffle, tombola and lots of other stalls and attractions as well as food and drink on sale in the clubhouse. The day will start at 10am with the inter schools six-a-side and climax with the main match at 3pm.

The cost of entry is £4 on the day. All children under the age of 14 years old get in for free, if accompanied by an adult.

To get the chance to play for the Arsenal team you must bid at least £100 for a place. The highest bidder will get to pull on the famous shirt, warm up with the team, be included in all team photos and get to play the first quarter of the game in the Arsenal team, with a place in the Park Street team for the remainder of the match. They will also be invited to the VIP buffet after the game.

Bidding will start at 12 noon on Monday 16th March and close on Wednesday 25th March at 6pm. All bids must be emailed to: [email protected] and everyone who has placed a bid will receive a fresh email every time a new higher bid is received. When the bidding has closed the winner will be informed and will be asked to pay the amount of the bid in advance. They will also receive complementary passes to the game for family and friends. The money for the bid can be from an individual, company or raised by getting family, friends and work colleagues to sponsor them. For further information please contact the Event Organiser, Andrew Farley, on 01727 825853.

Where is London Colney FC’s ground? Well, it’s not far north of Junction 22 of the M25. There’s a directions and a map from the club’s website here, and a slightly better map from streetmap.co.uk here. The ground is situated where it says ‘sports ground’ above the arrow. Head south-east by pressing the arrow at bottom right a couple of times and you can see the M25 junction.

As a special concession to readers of this website, free entry is offered to this event. Just print out this page and cut out and present the voucher near the top at the ground on the day. Alternatively, simply download the image of the voucher to your desktop and print from there. PC users, put your mouse over the image, right click and download the image to your computer. Mac users, press the control button at the same time as clicking your mouse and then you can download.