Spurs kitman, Steve Dukes, raises £88,000 in memory of his late father

In memory of his late father Charlie, Head of Kit and Equipment at Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, Steve Dukes has raised over £41,000 for the Essex & Herts Air Ambulance through a second charity auction; meaning that together with Just Giving donations of over £13,000, and the money raised from last year’s auction, the total raised by Steve has achieved an amazing £88,000.

This year’s ‘Sports Support the Air Ambulance’ sale, which was hosted by Graham Budd Auctions, saw over 80 lots comprising player-signed football shirts and sports memorabilia, all which were collected by Steve Dukes through his contacts in the sporting world.

The highlight of the sale was Cristiano Ronaldo’s signed red Manchester United no.7 home jersey for the season 21-22, which received 47 bids and was bought by an overseas collector for £8,000 – 16 times its pre-sale estimate.

Charlie Dukes tragically lost his life after a cycling accident in May 2020. To ensure his dad’s legacy lives on, Steve decided to run the high-profile auctions of sporting memorabilia in support of EHAAT, which provided an invaluable service at the time of Charlie’s passing.

After the sale had finished Steve said: “Essex & Herts Air Ambulance is an amazing charity, and I am so pleased with the total amount achieved. If the money raised can help save a life or two and give families like mine, the after care they need, I will continue to support them however I can.”

In addition to an array of football shirts from stars throughout the game, this year’s auction contained items signed by the likes of Lewis Hamilton, Tyson Fury, WWE superstar and Spurs fan Finn Balor, Conor McGregor, Owen Farrell, Alistair Cook and Jonathan Trott.

Steve continued: “I’m extremely grateful to everyone who kindly donated items and placed bids. Hopefully our collective efforts can go a long way to helping what is a very worthy cause.”

Following the sale, Adam Gascgoine, CEO of Graham Budd Auctions, commented: “Steve amassed a fantastic collection of signed items, all connected to notable names in the sporting world. This is the second online sale that Graham Budd Auctions’ have overseen, and we are delighted with the result and how much interest it attracted from all over the world.”

Emma Barker, Head of Income Generation for Essex & Herts Air Ambulance, added: “We are so grateful to Steve for organising his second auction in aid of Essex & Herts Air Ambulance. Steve puts a huge amount of effort into pulling together his amazing auction lots, which attract a great deal of interest and generate much-needed funds for the charity. Steve knows that the air ambulance does not receive statutory funding from the Government – and this drives him on to do everything he can to support our life-saving work. We thank

him wholeheartedly for everything that he does in memory of his beloved dad, Charlie.”

In addition to the Ronaldo shirt the other four highest prices achieved were for: Harry Kane’s signed white England FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 Qualifier no.9 jersey v San Marino from November 2021, which sold for £2,400 to an Overseas Private Buyer against an estimate of £400-600; Gareth Bale’s squad signed white Real Madrid CF no.18 home jersey, season 2021-22 fetched £1,800 and was bought by an Overseas Private Buyer for five times its presale estimate of £250-350; Son Heung-min’s signed white Tottenham Hotspur no.7 home jersey, season 2021-22 sold for £1,600 – it had been estimated at £250-350 and was bought by a Private Overseas Collector, while Robert Lewandowski’s signed red FC Bayern Munich no.9 home jersey, season 2021-22 realised £1,500 carries an estimate of £300-500 and was bought by a Private Collector in the UK.

Please note that none of the shirts were match worn – they are however club issued and the full details of each lot are labelled clearly in the catalogue itself: https://bidlive.grahambuddauctions.co.uk/auctions/8215/srgrah10034