Crowds gathered in Millfields Park on Sunday for the fifth annual football match held to remember father-of-three Solly Vesamia, who died in 2013 of a rare muscle-wasting illness.

Hackney Gazette: Solly Vesamia in happier times.Solly Vesamia in happier times. (Image: Archant)

Solly – a keen footballer who also owned a bike shop – was afflicted by a severe and aggressive rare form of myositis. It’s a muscle inflammation that affects only two in a million people.

As has become tradition, his children Aisha, Eisa and Liyya – now 16, 14 and 12 – handed over the silver “Solly trophy” to a team representing Rushmore, who beat their old school Millfields 6-0 in the event’s first children’s game.

The Millfields v Rushmore dads’ game ended on a 2-2 tie.

The event raised nearly £500 for the Nawaal Foundation. It will now go to the Rainbow Trust, which supports youngsters with a terminal illness, and the Hackney Pirates literacy charity.

To donate see the Just Giving page.