Islington Tribune - by ROISIN GADELRAB Published: 1 August 2008
Tributes left at the Fitzrovia football pitch
Silent tributes after teenage footballer dies on pitch
FOOTBALLERS taking part in a popular north London tournament will observe a minute’s silence before every match following the death of a teenage player on the opening day. Daniel Noel, 18, collapsed immediately after scoring a winning goal for his team, the London Tigers, at the Unity Cup’s launch tournament in Fitzrovia on Saturday.
Paramedics rushed to the scene but Daniel, a business student, did not regain consciousness and died shortly afterwards at the University College London Hospital in Bloomsbury.
Football was suspended at the pitch this week while hundreds of youngsters from across north London and neighbouring Westminster paid their condolences by leaving messages at a shrine close by. “At least you died doing something you loved,” said one friend. “You will never be forgotten.”
The competition, which is aimed at bringing youths together through sport and includes Copenhagen Youth Project’s under-14 girls among its past winners, is due to kick off again in on Monday.
It will run throughout August at pitches in King’s Cross, Camden, Bloomsbury and Hampstead.
Andre Schott, from organisers Fitzrovia Youth In Action said: “There will be a minute’s silence before every match to remember Daniel.”