On Thursday 10th August, Dulwich Hamlet will be the guests of Croydon Athletic in a pre-season friendly, kick-off 7-30 p.m. Although only a friendly, this game will have a slightly different approach to it as both clubs will be playing for the Paul Muir Memorial Cup in memory of Croydon Athletic’s Paul Muir who died in tragic circumstances at the turn of the year. The cup has been put up by the club’s board of directors and it is hoped that that it will be played for each year against a local club in memory of a popular young man, untimely taken from his friends and family.
It was in January of this year that Paul Muir lost a 19-week battle for life. He had been in and out of a coma at Croydon’s Mayday University Hospital since being attacked as he left a nightclub in Croydon in the early hours of August 22nd 1999. He suffered serious brain injuries in the cowardly attack that left him barely able to write his own name. Despite the best efforts of medical staff both at the Mayday Hospital and at the specialist head injuries unit at the Atkinson Morley Hospital, doctors could only tell his parents that the brain injuries were so severe that it would only be a matter of time before the inevitable happened.
At the time of his death, the club’s director told the local paper that ‘the death of Paul Muir has cast a shadow over the club. There are no words to describe neither the depth of our sadness nor the extent of our sympathy for his family’.
Paul Muir joined Croydon Athletic in 1994 after a long career with famed giant killers Yeovil Town who he had joined as a schoolboy. At the age of 35 and nearing the end of his playing career at the time of his death, he had been preparing for a new role at Mayfields coaching youngsters.
If you only make it to one preseason friendly, you should ensure that it is this, not only for the esteemed hospitality that Croydon Athletic always provide, but to pay a personal tribute to Paul Muir. Bill Shankly's oft quoted phrase about life, death and football seems extremely misguided in this instance.
It was in January of this year that Paul Muir lost a 19-week battle for life. He had been in and out of a coma at Croydon’s Mayday University Hospital since being attacked as he left a nightclub in Croydon in the early hours of August 22nd 1999. He suffered serious brain injuries in the cowardly attack that left him barely able to write his own name. Despite the best efforts of medical staff both at the Mayday Hospital and at the specialist head injuries unit at the Atkinson Morley Hospital, doctors could only tell his parents that the brain injuries were so severe that it would only be a matter of time before the inevitable happened.
At the time of his death, the club’s director told the local paper that ‘the death of Paul Muir has cast a shadow over the club. There are no words to describe neither the depth of our sadness nor the extent of our sympathy for his family’.
Paul Muir joined Croydon Athletic in 1994 after a long career with famed giant killers Yeovil Town who he had joined as a schoolboy. At the age of 35 and nearing the end of his playing career at the time of his death, he had been preparing for a new role at Mayfields coaching youngsters.
If you only make it to one preseason friendly, you should ensure that it is this, not only for the esteemed hospitality that Croydon Athletic always provide, but to pay a personal tribute to Paul Muir. Bill Shankly's oft quoted phrase about life, death and football seems extremely misguided in this instance.
