AN amputee footballer will play alongside able bodied team-mates in a tournament today to raise awareness and money for charity.

Literary agent James Catchpole will be playing alongside four other team-mates at the annual Jason Garford Memorial Tournament in the Oxford City FC grounds.

Mr Catchpole is a player with a difference as he only has one leg, and will be playing on crutches.

The 34-year-old founded the Oxford City Amputee football club, which plays at Oxford City’s Marston ground, and is heavily involved in amputee football across the south of England.

Now the father-of-one wants to encourage more amputees in Oxford to come forward and join the football team through playing with four other able bodied footballers.

He said: “It’s tough because the other players run a lot faster than me so I have to be clever. Usually I will play up front and have to be rapid on the ball.”

Mr Catchpole has learned how to play well with able-bodied footballers through playing with a team every Thursday.

He said: “The standard is fairly good, so it stretches me – I have to be on my game to keep up.”

One of reasons why the Jericho resident is playing in the charity tournament is to raise awareness of amputee footballing.

He hopes that one day he can enter a full five-a-side football team to the tournament.

Mr Catchpole added: “When we started Oxford City Amputees, we had people all across the south playing for us.

“But since then we’ve expanded, we have bases in London, Portsmouth and Bristol.

“People are becoming more attracted to those areas.

“What we want is some homegrown talent to come and join.”

Mr Catchpole has been playing amputee football since he was a child.

He lost his right leg at about 18 weeks old due to a blood-related illness called cavernous hemangioma.

The tournament he is playing in is raising money for the Sobell House Hospice, in tribute to the care that was received by paramedic and amateur footballer Jason Garford, who died of cancer in 2011.

Mr Catchpole said: “Cancer is something very close to a lot of amputee footballers, as most of the footballers have lost a leg to bone cancer.

“A lot of the boys in the England team have it, we lost our captain [Tom Jordan] to bone cancer about two years ago.

“So it’s something I’m happy to fundraise for.”

* If you are an amputee interested in getting involved in football email James Catchpole at south@theeafa.co.uk and to donate to the Jason Garford Memorial Tournament visit uk.virginmoneygiving.com/peterorange