For 364 days each year, Albion fans and their Crystal Palace counterparts snipe at each other, willing their respective rivals to fail miserably.

Not today. They want to win their annual match - Albion supporters have enlisted the assistance of striker legends Peter Ward and Garry Nelson, Palace the services of Andrew Johnson and Shaun Derry.

Once it is over, they will adjourn to the bar to resume warm friendships forged over 15 years, united by a common cause.

This is Robert Eaton's legacy, together with aiding under-privileged and disabled children at home and abroad in America and Africa.

He is unaware of the humanitarian collaboration taking place in his name.

On the morning of September 11th, 2001, Albion fan Eaton was in routine mode, working as a broker for Cantor Fitzgerald on the 105th floor of the World Trade Centre in New York.

It was struck by a plane, hijacked by terrorists, and the world changed forever.

Eaton, a former St Paul's Cathedral chorister from Ditchling and student at Brighton and College and BHASVIC, was among the 3,000 who perished in the 9/11 attacks.

He was 37-years-old, a regular and popular contributor to North Stand Chat, the online forum for Albion fans, using the pseudonym 'Ricky Marlowe's Hairpiece', a light-hearted reference to the Scottish striker who played for the club in the 1970's.

Stunned colleagues were determined he would not be forgotten. Out of tragedy, the Robert Eaton Memorial Fund was born.

The centrepiece of the charity's fundraising efforts is the game between Albion and Palace fans.

It is being staged this evening, as a one-off, at the Amex instead of the Dripping Pan at Lewes.

Advanced ticket sales have already guaranteed a crowd doubled in size to around 700. The boost to the REMF coffers is £10,000 and counting.

The 15th match of its kind is particularly poignant, nine months after the Shoreham Airshow disaster which claimed among its victims Albion groundstaff member Matt Grimstone and his Worthing United team-mate Jacob Schilt.

Brett Mendoza, vice-chair of the REMF since 2004, said: "Jacob was in the squad last year. We did a charity walk for him from Shoreham Airport to Worthing's ground, which the club got involved in, and then as a gesture for the 15th anniversary they said we could have the Amex.

"It was too good an opportunity to turn down. Jacob raised over £1,000 for us over the years and he was one of the best players in the team.

"Robert's parents, Jacob's parents and Matt's parents will all be there. It's going to be quite emotional."

Mendoza, 35, will be playing tonight (6pm) for the last time. "My body can't take playing football any more," he joked. "Too many injuries and wear and tear. It will be my 12th so it's time for others to step in.

"A few of us on both sides have been playing for eight or nine years. We see each other once a year and we're friends on social media.

"People looking from the outside find it weird that Brighton and Palace fans are just getting on, but that's what the charity has done.

"Most people my age or younger don't really know what the rivalry is all about. It's just how you are taught and you just go along with it. As for actual hatred, there's none of that.

"It's friendly on the pitch as well, although as in any game you get the odd wild challenge. I think there's even a photo from last year of Dodge (Paul Rogers) accidentally kicking someone in the head!

"Palace fans have donated loads to us. Even Cardiff fans sent us a cheque for five hundred quid. Donations come from all over the place.

"The bulk of the money has gone to charities around Brighton. We've been looking at charities at the Croydon end as well.

"We donated £5,000 to their disability team. They have got a powerchair team too and need a couple of chairs. We've just had a grant approved for that."

Rogers, former Albion captain turned commercial manager, is assistant manager of the Seagulls' REMF team this year.

The manager is Paul Barber, the club's chief executive, as Albion's mix of ex-pros (including Edinburgh-based REMF regular Marlowe) and assortment of Sunday League players seek to retain the trophy they won last year on penalties.

The result will be a footnote. Barber said: "It's very much a fans-led charity and over the years the club has supported it in various ways.

"We've helped with kit, prizes to support the fund-raising, and then last year Dodge and myself got involved 'coaching' the team.

"It's coming up to our fifth anniversary at the Amex. The lads have been looked after reallly well over at Lewes all these years, but we thought it would be nice to open up the Amex for the game and maybe raise a bit more money by attracting a bigger crowd."

Money which has been used so far to benefit an impoverished junior club in New York, children orphaned by Aids in Africa and Albion In The Community, the club's own charitable arm.

Most of the Amex will be empty tonight, but it will be full of warm-hearted intentions in memory of Robert Eaton.