Hundreds attend match in honour of Aaron West

Nov 4 2010 By Lawrence Poole

Supporters at the match in Aaron's honour

HUNDREDS of people flocked to Chesham United FC in the pouring rain on Sunday to pay tribute to teenager Aaron West, who died last Friday.

The brave 16-year-old, who attended Amersham School, was diagnosed with fibrolamellar hepatocellular carcinoma with pulmonary metastasis, a rare form of liver cancer in February, but he was hoping to be well enough to attend the charity football match to raise funds for his dream goalkeeping academy.

After being told he had only days to live by his consultant last week, brave Aaron teamed up with Wycombe Wanderers FC to put on the match to raise funds to fulfil his dream of setting up a goalkeeping academy as a lasting legacy.

Dad Robert refereed the match on Sunday, which was aptly won on penalties by the Aaron West 11 side, his mum Dax was also in attendance.

On the game, Dax said: "It was an emotional rollercoaster - everybody was there and it was a day for Aaron."We didn't realise how many people Aaron had touched until Sunday, the turnout was incredible. Everybody put their heart and soul into organising it. It was beautiful that Aaron's side won, but there was no losers - all the players played with all their heart."

Around 400 people turned up to see the game, which finished 3-3 in normal time, and helped raise £5,500 to go towards funding the academy.

Chris Fraser, Wanderers' matchday coordinator put on the match with the help of Aaron's friends."When I saw the weather in the morning I feared the worst, but the number of people who came along is such a great tribute to Aaron.

"Chris, who also arranged a raffle and an auction to take place on the day, was delighted with how the match panned out."It couldn't have worked out better really, the Wycombe Community Boys took a 3-0 lead, but Aaron's side fought back to 3-3 and eventually went on to win it on penalties."

The amount of money raised was fantastic, the auction went really well with one person paying £170 for an Arsenal shirt."His dad paid tribute to him by refereeing the match in Aaron's pink football boots. He bought his son them after Aaron bet him Arsenal striker Nicklas Bendtner, who wears the same pair, would score in a Champions League match.

Chris is now planning to make the match an annual event.

"We would now like to hold the Aaron West Plate every year, as we had a trophy made up for the game and the winner's name can be inscribed upon it. The academy is obviously going to cost a lot of money, so we need to keep the fundraising going – it will be a great lasting tribute to Aaron."

Plans are now also being put in place for a charity quiz night to take place in Chesham in January to coincide with what would have been his 17th birthday.