Football clubs from as far away as India have donated signed shirts for a campaign to support the family of Ryan McBride.

‘Auction for Ryan’, set up by Sligo Rovers fan Aaron Cawley, has gained significant support in the past week, with every league of Ireland club donating signed memorabilia. The appeal, originally designed for the attention of Irish clubs, has grown significantly however, with the likes of Arsenal, West Brom, Preston and Burnley all contributing to the auction, which is set to begin next week.

Organiser Cawley admitted that the response so far has been phenomenal.

“When I heard that Ryan had passed away, I thought it would be nice to do something for his family,” he told the Derry News. “I got in touch with a  few friends and it  just moved on from there. I have a lot of contacts in the League of Ireland because I write for extratime.ie. More people got involved, and the more that did, the more the jerseys started coming in.

“I was put in contact with someone at Preston, Burnley and the kit man at West Brom contacted me and James McClean will donate a number 5 jersey. I’ve also been in contact with Arsenal, who have sent over a signed first team football.”

News of the auction has travelled worldwide thanks to social media, with more and more jerseys arriving every day.

“It’s gone from league of Ireland jerseys to jerseys over the world at this stage,” Cawley continued. “There’s a chap in India, Shane McCaul, who plays for a team over there and who knew Ryan growing up. He heard about the auction and he contacted me last week and he is going to get his team mates to sign a jersey and send it over.

“Any of the League of Ireland clubs that I contacted said they would send me a jersey no bother. I’ve had a lot of them delivered to my house so my postman has been earning his money the last week and a half.”

The tributes to Ryan McBride in the days since his sudden death have been widespread and Cawley agreed that the footballing fraternity in Ireland and beyond have shown tremendous respect.

“We’re a small family here in the League of Ireland and the amount of support we’re getting is fantastic and the amount of people who are willing to help out, in any way they can, is just amazing,” he explained.

“Once I get all the jerseys, I’ll kick off the auction and whatever money is made I will forward that on through Derry City to Ryan’s family to show that the League of Ireland family care and that we feel the pain that they are going through at the minute.”

For more information on the auction, or to contribute, visit @AuctionForRyan on Twitter.

"It is a great idea by Aaron and I am delighted to see the huge support given from other clubs within the league and overseas - it will be interesting to see which LOI jersey takes the highest bid"

If you have a story or want to send a photo or video to us please contact the Derry Now editorial team on 028 7129 6600 for Derry City stories Or 028 7774 3970 for County Derry stories. Or you can email gareth@derrynews.net at any time.