A BLACKBURN hockey team is getting in the pink to raise money for cancer research.

If a Blackburn Hawks player misses a penalty shoot out or turns up late to training, he will now have to wear a special pink shirt for their next match.

The shirt says ‘gone but not forgotten’ on the back, and is printed with the names and ages of loved ones who have died from cancer.

There are already ten names on the hockey top, and if the team get enough names to fill one shirt they will start a second one.

The names will be printed on the shirt in a ‘scatter burst’ effect, and will also be printed in match programmes.

People are invited to pay to have the names of friends and relatives who have died from cancer on the shirt, and all of the money raised will go to cancer charities.

Team manager Alan Amos got the idea from seeing players in America wearing pink to raise awareness of breast cancer, and also from his own work with the junior squad.

He said: “When I was involved in the juniors in the past we had a pink shirt and if players forgot their kit or were late they had to wear the pink shirt and pay a small fine.

“I lost a brother-in-law to cancer. He was only 51-years-old and died within three or four weeks of being diagnosed. I’ve also lost my dad and my father-in-law to cancer.

“It’s a case of what can we do? Ice hockey is a fighting sport, and Blackburn Hawks have joined the fight against cancer.

“If we can raise some money and then raise some awareness it’s going to be worth it.”

For more information, visit www.blackburnhawks.com