HE NEVER wore a designer tracksuit or "bling" jewellery, but Ben Swift Chambers was hailed yesterday as a true footballing hero.

He died long before Best and Beckham were born and, as a teetotal Christian from Huddersfield, he might have baulked at some of the excesses of the modern game. But without him, two of the world's biggest clubs, Liverpool and Everton, might never have existed.

Research by author Peter Lupson has established it was this modest Methodist from West Yorkshire who set the ball rolling for the creation of the clubs.

Yesterday both clubs united to pay tribute to the Rev Ben Chambers by renovating his neglected grave, which took Mr Lupson months to find.

He discovered the ...

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