When Kirsty Gallagher announced she could not make it, a gangster took her place.

AFC Bromley's third annual charity football day, which raised more than £3,000 for the Starlight Children's Foundation, drew a star of the screen and an England international as well as scores of spectators.

Kirsty Gallagher had been expected to kick proceedings off along with rugby-playing partner Paul Sampson, but owing to other commitments the pair were forced to withdraw.

In their place England and Wasps winger Paul Sackey, who scored two tries against the Barbarians on his international debut the previous day, and Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels' actor Frank Harper, from Dartford, ensured the day went with a bang.

Gallagher did, however, donate the swimming costume she wore in Channel Four's The Games' series, which fetched £250 in the charity auction.

In the same auction Premiership referee Steve Bennett, from Orpington, also donated mementos he had collected from refereeing games across Europe, which raised a further £400.

Bennett was not needed to officiate in the match between AFC Bromley and their counterparts from Sydenham, which was played in a good spirit throughout and was won 2-1 by the outfit from Lewisham, with John Walker scoring Bromley's goal.

The club's secretary Dennis Gordon, who helped organise the event, said: "Thanks must go to Frank and Paul, who were tremendous company."