A FOOTBALL club is to pay tribute to a war hero and long-time fan.

Charlie Standing and his wife Tup settled in East Brighton following the end of the Second World War.

In later years, he and his son Terry often went to watch Whitehawk FC play.

Now the club, which is marking its 75th anniversary, is to unveil a plaque to the old soldier at its ground in East Brighton.

The move coincides with the release of a film about Charlie, made by his great-grandson Elliott Hasler.

The Argus: Great-grandson Elliott Hasler has made a film about Charlie Standing Great-grandson Elliott Hasler has made a film about Charlie Standing

The movie, World War II: The Long Walk Home, came out on Monday, in good time for Armistice Day.

Whitehawk will unveil the plaque to Charlie today, ahead of their home game against Cray Wanderers.

The Hawks’ head of commercial and marketing Kevin Miller said: “It came about from a client who bought an advertising board from an insurance company.

“We got chatting and it turned out he was the father of the director Elliott Hasler and so we thought why not celebrate this because the main character in the film is his great-grandfather and a Whitehawk resident.

“I did some digging and found some of our fans remember him and we thought it would be a nice gesture, especially being our 75th anniversary.

“Before lockdown we had a big planning meeting about what we were going to do for our 75th anniversary – parties, gathering and special evenings with some old players.

“None of that has happened, so this is something that we could do.

“We have also changed the team shirt this year to replicate the 1945 shirt, so the home kit is very much like the one we started out with.

“The badge has also been changed so it says 75th anniversary underneath.

“When this came up we thought it would be a really good opportunity to keep that rolling.”

The Argus: Charlie Standing featured in the Brighton Gazette Charlie Standing featured in the Brighton Gazette

Charlie died in 1999, a year before Elliot was born.

The Argus reported last month how the Exeter University student, now 20, had become the world’s youngest director with the launch of his first film on Skybox and Amazon.

Elliott, who lives in Brighton, was just 14 when he wrote World War II: The Long Walk Home.

His achievement also meant he was the first film director born after the year 2000 to showcase a film on the platforms.