Mark Bellingham - dad to Jude and Jobe - wins England international call
Mark Bellingham - dad of Jude and Jobe - was a prolific non-league centre-forward.
Prolific former non-league striker Mark Bellingham - father of Jude and Jobe - has earned an England international call at the age of 50.
Bellingham Sr. has been included in England over-50s squad to face Republic of Ireland this weekend.
Striker Bellingham, who represented a host of West Midlands non-league clubs in his playing days, still plays the sport at a veterans’ level.
He turned 50 in March and has been selected for the England veterans ranks for a clash against their Irish counterparts in Cambridgeshire on Sunday.
The marksman was included in Steve Edkins and Tom Hegarty’s 18-man squad, though the list later appeared to show a group of 17 without Bellingham Sr.
The under-50s are in action at 2.15pm in Northstowe, Cambridgeshire. There is an over-60s fixture against Ireland at 4.15pm.
The frontman, a deadly striker over his semi-professional career with more than 700 goals at various levels of non-league football, will hope to have a similar impact to eldest son Jude for the Three Lions’ first team.
Bellingham Sr, a former police sergeant with West Midlands Police, kept track of his goal tally - which began in home county Essex in 1994 - and brought up his 700 milestone with Sutton Coldfield outfit Paget Rangers in 2016 aged 40.
He played Southern and Northern Premier League football and was especially prolific with Leamington and Bromsgrove Sporting. His extensive CV lists Warwickshire outfit Southam United as a final club, until 2019.
His professional footballer sons were born in Stourbridge and cut their teeth at Birmingham City before moves away, with Jobe ending up at Borussia Dortmund and England star Jude at Real Madrid via the German giants.
The striker has also been included in England Veterans over-50s for a fixture against charity outfit BHF FC in Lincoln on November 15.