Vale David London

Hello Friends,

It's with a heavy heart that I pass along the sad news that David London, Kanga Cup Academy alumni coach / assessor / Interstate Referees Coordinator has passed away on Sunday night.

In control at O'Connor 2011

David joined the adult assessing crew from 2008, along with his son Matthew participating as a referee from the Hunter Valley branch of Northern New South Wales.














David's time with the Academy included the transitional period, where the referees attending Kanga Cup went from being a social event with some refereeing during the day, the away years travelling at the Scots College / Carotell to 2011 when it became an Academy structure with improvements in educational values and under David's sometime firm teaching hand a more professional approach to referee development and administration began.

Opening Ceremony 2008

Coaches Dinner Out 2008

2008

David's influence was most notable at O'Connor fields, a venue he made his own with many SSG and U/12's taking place, usually in the role of Referees Coordinator.  His friendly, calm personality allowed strong bonds to form with the tournaments star teams, notability Adelaide City and Shingok, with the team's coaches always remembering to say Hi and handshakes all round each year they played at O'Connor and enviably during the finals.

Field inspections 2011

Lunch time at O'Connor

Admin 2012

The two David's together 2012

Cleaning up after the referees O'Connor

David took a year off after the 2012 tournament, attending a wedding in 2013 but I remember him calling at some point on Friday night at the coaches debrief missing the action from the week with my phone being passed around all the coaches so that everyone could say hi and retell the tall stories from the weeks competition.

The NNSW Football notice is here and the Celebration of David's life is at the Maitland City Bowling Club this Friday 7th August at 10am Memorial Notice.  I'll be attending to represent those who can't from Brisbane and the greater Kanga Cup family and would be happy to pass along any pictures or stories you may have of David.

We'll miss you mate, take care.