I mentioned a few who operate at top international/world level.
Kelly did not name our leading footballers, but we have a handful of top-flight footballers – Michael Brown (Wigan), Lindsay Johnson (Everton) and Adam Johnson and Andrew Taylor (Boro).



Not just that, we have a Premiership rugby player too – the mercurial Michael Young.

The 19-year-old ex-West star made his debut for Newcastle Falcons at the end of last season and then got a dream call up in May for the England squad for the IRB Sevens tournament in Murrayfield.

He capped a memorable occasion by scoring a try on his debut against Russia. A talented lad is Michael.

And he officially had confirmed what we already knew at the weekend – he became a hero!

Young played at Twickenham in the Help for Heroes Challenge match.
The scrum-half came on as a sub for Scott Gibbs' International XV who were beaten 29-10 by Lawrence Dallaglio's Help for Heroes XV.

The result was unimportant – all the players (and more than 52,000 spectators) turned out to raise money for Headley Court rehabilitation centre for our injured servicemen and women.

It was a fantastic honour, not only for Michael and his family, but for West too, whose famed West youth system he learned his rugby at.

The former Brierton Community School pupil entered the fray shortly after half-time.

He didn't score but he made a nice break from a scrum and put in a good tackle on England World Cup winner Jason Robinson – one to tell the grandkids that.

Michael got to train with Jonah Lomu only for the All Black legend to injured one of his size 48 feet.

But while that big New Zealand tank failed to make it onto the hallowed turf, Hartlepool's speedy Porsche did.

And it's remarkable to think that it was the FOURTH time Michael has played at Twickenham – and he's not even 20 yet.

Young played in the Daily Mail Cup final for Durham School a couple of years back and been at two Middlesex Sevens tournaments.

But it was nothing compared to the Help for Heroes match where he rubbed shoulders with players like Dallaglio, Robinson, Gibbs, Martin Johnson etc.

"I loved it," said Michael – it was a fantastic experience."