LASHINGS have been playing cricket, with vastly contrasting degrees of success, for over a quarter of a century now, but in November this year the first ever Lashings All Star football match was staged, in aid of a Kent charity.

A Lashings XI took on Maidstone United Veterans at Bearsted FC in aid of the Peggy Wood Foundation and the success of the game convinced chairman David Folb that a football team could run in tandem with the club’s World XI cricket operations.

“Showbiz” XIs in charity matches used to be anything but. Games that were billed as all-star encounters usually hinged on the thrill of wondering whether or not George Best would turn up (a 50-50 shot at best) and were habitually z-list affairs, with the star quality often provided by hospital radio DJs – as in the classic episode of the BBC sitcom Porridge when Ronnie Barker, struggling to recognise any of the stars his Lags XI were playing against, was told a weatherman from Anglia TV was there to light up the occasion.

Lashings, as ever, wanted to do things differently. Folb, a lifelong Chelsea supporter whose first love was football, well before he was ever tempted on to a cricket field, decided to assemble a genuine All-Star side for the match, which doubled as a testimonial for two local veterans, Alan Butcher and Les Apps.

STAR PARADE: (Above) The Lashings team, with special guests. (Left) Ed Giddins conducts the post-game interview with Russel Osman

If you run a team of any standard and at any level, and you’d like to take on our all star XI in the new year, watch this space ... We’ll play anywhere from Shepway Green to the San Siro! Keep visiting www.lashings.co.uk for more details.