A FORMER England Schoolboys and Burnley youth team goalkeeper died after years working near asbestos, a coroner has ruled.

Alan Tattersall, who won the Burnley Combination Second Division Championship with Burnley Colts in 1953, died at his Haslingden home on July 13, aged 79.

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He was tested for lung cancer just two days before he died but never found out the results after his health ‘deteriorated rapidly’, an inquest was told.

Mr Tattersall, of Broadway, was conscripted to the Army and was present on Christmas Island when the first hydrogen bombs were tested in 1957, and went on to work for Rawtenstall firm Eric Kershaw.

In a written statement, his wife, Jean, told Burnley Coroner’s Court he had a long history of arthritis and had been a smoker until he was diagnosed with angina.

She said: “He was always a very fit and active man. It was only in the last month of his life that his health deteriorated. There was no prior warning. He suffered breathing problems and developed weight loss so he was referred to a hospital in Salford for further investigation.

“He had worked as a plumber in regular contact with asbestos.”

Mr Tattersall, who also played for Bolton Wanderers and Preston North End, worked for Rossendale Council for 15 years, where he would have encountered asbestos while fitting and removing bathrooms and central heating, his wife said.

Dr Mohammed Aslam, consultant histopathologist at Royal Blackburn Hospital, gave the medical cause of death as carcinomatosis caused by lung cancer.

Deputy East Lancashire coroner Mark Williams, recording a conclusion of death due to industrial disease, said: “I will accept the doctor’s evidence and my conclusion will be consistent with his. Knowing what he knows, he believes the cancer was likely to be linked back to asbestos exposure all those years ago.”