Covid: Tom Cruise signs shirts for football club on movie set - BBC News

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Tom Cruise, left, and one of the signed shirts

Tom Cruise has come to the aid of a grassroots football club left out of pocket by the coronavirus pandemic.

Woburn & Wavendon Football Club initially felt "disappointed" when they were booted off their Bedfordshire sports ground to make way for the Mission: Impossible 7 film crew.

But smiles were soon restored when Hollywood legend Cruise signed a clutch of the club's shirts.

They will now be used as part of the team's £12,000 crowdfunding campaign.

Money raised from the shirts will be put towards the club's community initiatives

Chairman Robert Hill said it was frustrating to be unable to use the pitches due to filming as they were "desperate to get back on and play some football" after lockdown restrictions eased.

But he said the club rang the production company to say staff would "do whatever we could" to help, and while on the phone asked if some shirts could be signed.

"They said they would do their best and we crossed our fingers," he said.

Club committee member Wes Williams, who set up the crowd-funder, said it was an "amazing surprise" when Top Gun star Cruise granted their wish.

A Woburn & Wavendon Football Club training session

He said the club needed to raise money as it had lost about £30,000 when some of its tournaments were cancelled.

Mr Williams said the money raised would support their community initiatives.

Hollywood star Tom Cruise was in town filming near one of our venues, meaning we had to relocate, but the Mission Impossible crew generously gave us their support with Tom signing a few shirts too. Those are now available as rewards on our campaign page https://t.co/E6oPr67tlq pic.twitter.com/MCXSU2QMks
— Woburn & Wavendon FC (@FCWoburn) May 15, 2021