The 'City United' fundraiser was held at the Imperial Hotel in Melbourne on Sunday, June 4 with all proceeds going to the Manchester Emergency Fund.

Former Manchester City player Danny Allsop and ex-Manchester United star Jasper Olsen attended the event and donated playing shirts that were auctioned on the night.

Secretary of the Australian City supporters group, Steve Bardsley said the Melbourne donation to the Manchester City supporters club was the biggest received from anywhere in the world.

“A lot the football community here in Melbourne support Manchester City or Manchester United and many of them have friends and family back in Manchester,” Bardsley said.

“When we got the news of the bombing we were very concerned and hoping that none of our families or friends had been injured. So, we decided that we wanted to do something and we knew that there was a fund that we could contribute to.

“We were expecting to raise $5000, that’s all, and we were totally amazed on the day when we started adding it up and we thought wow, this is going to be over $10,000, wait a minute, it’s going to be $15,000.”

Ex Manchester City player Danny Allsopp with Steve - winner of his donated shirt

Bardsley revealed that several Australian sporting bodies were keen to show their support for the victims of last month’s attack.

“We had an absolute fantastic response from people here in Melbourne and from other sporting organisations,” he said.

“Prizes were donated from Tennis Australia, Cricket Australia, Golf Australia, Greyhound Racing Australia, Crown Casino Hotels, South Melbourne Soccer Club, Melbourne Victory and Melbourne City FC.

“Everybody really chipped in to help us. We had 81 items that we either raffled or auctioned.

"On the day, we raised $17,000 and donations continued through the next days and the total sum was $18,852.

Bardsley was also keen to note that attendance at the fundraiser was not limited to just Manchester City or Manchester United fans.

“We also had Melbourne Victory, Melbourne City, Tottenham Hotspur, Chelsea, Norwich Aston Villa - you name it, all those supporter clubs came along and helped us and it shows what a great community we have here,” he said.

“Melbourne City have been absolutely amazing, they really are a great supporters club.

“Both Melbourne Victory and Melbourne City got involved and donated prizes, Melbourne City donated a shirt that was signed by the whole squad that won the FFA Cup.

“Quite often football supporters are subjected to negative publicity but what a lot of people don’t know is that when the chips are down the footballing community comes together.”