AN POST AND Britain’s Royal Mail are to collaborate on the release of new postmark for the first time, commemorating the life of Jack Charlton.

Charlton, who won football’s World Cup with England and twice managed Ireland at the tournament, died earlier this month aged 85. 

Such was the reciprocal love between Charlton and Ireland that he became a citizen in the latter part of his life and had a home in this country.

His death prompted a wave of sadness and nostalgia across this country and this will likely be revisited when his funeral takes place tomorrow in his native Northumberland, near Newcastle. 

From today and for the next three weeks, all stamped mail posted in Ireland and England will be marked with a football and the words ‘Jack Charlton, 1935-2020′.

This is what the postmark will look like. Maxwells Maxwells

“Jack was the greatest example of a culture shared across these islands: that a proud Leeds player, a tall English football hero could become an Irish legend,” CEO at An Post  David McRedmond said this morning. 

McRedmond’s counterpart in the the UK Stuart Simpson said that Charlton was “a football hero” on both sides of the Irish Sea. 

“This is the first time that An Post and Royal Mail have collaborated on a postmark. The commemoration of the life of Jack Charlton is a fitting occasion to do so,” he said.