York City superfan Dave ‘Dickie’ Barton was part of an exclusive club – the ‘Ground Hoppers’, his funeral heard.

Membership was largely dependent upon attending a football match at as many grounds in the UK as possible.

His sister Suzy said that he would plough all of his wages into watching York City play home and away, so once the financial aspect was ticked off, then came the logistics of actually getting to away games.

She said Dave was also a member of perhaps an even more elite group of York City fans  – ‘The Hardy 16’.

The Hardy 16, she explained, was a group of fans - including Dave - who had earned their name after taking a 15-hour round trip one snowy day, travelling to an away game on the south coast where the Minstermen were due to face Portsmouth.

READ MORE: Dave 'Dickie' Barton remembered in football-themed funeral

On their return to Bootham Crescent, with some of the party scheduled to clock in for work one hour later, Dave bounded off the coach with a smile on his face and a handshake for each of his cohort, Suzy recalled.

Suzy said that evidence was required to be a member of the ‘Ground Hoppers’, which once saw Dave end up in the directors' box at Altrincham FC.

His friends had thought him lost at a game after he had gone looking for a pin badge to prove he had been at the away game.

But Suzy said Dave’s smile and passion had worked their magic - as he had managed to talk his way into the VIP area at the Moss Lane ground.