Wycombe Wanderers kicked off a fundraising campaign “with a bang” after donating signed memorabilia to the opposition team’s ‘media man’, who was diagnosed with testicular cancer.

Wanderers coach Gareth Ainsworth left Alex Stedman, Crawley Town FC’s media, supporters liaison officer and matchday programme editor, “speechless”, presenting him with a player’s boots and a signed ball before the game yesterday (Saturday).

Mr Stedman was recently diagnosed with the disease and is due to start chemotherapy from next month – he decided to raise money for the John Hartson foundation, which was set up by the BBC and BT Sport pundit after surviving the condition .

He said the Chairboys’ kind gesture left him speechless, calling it “stunning” in a social media post, and appeared to be overcome with emotion.

He wrote: “I'm not often left speechless, but this by @wwfcofficial was stunning earlier. The first to donate for @HartsFND – thank you all, so much.”

The tweet went viral, with sporting bigwigs, including former England cricket skipper Michael Vaughn and TV’s Dan Walker, retweeting it to say how “absolutely fantastic” it was.

Broadcaster Mark Clemmit tagged BBC Sport in his tweet, saying: “@BBCSport Who said football doesn't have soul[?]”.

Crawley Town’s head coach Demrot Drummy also thanked the Chairboys for the gesture, saying it was “absolutely fantastic” and “outstanding”.

Wycombe Wanderers retweeted Mr Stedman’s video of the donation, adding: “Good luck to @crawleytown's media man @astedman1 with your treatment; the football family is right behind you.”

The club later tweeted to say more of their players had offered to donate their shirts.