A special moment occurred during the Northumberland Football League’s recent presentation evening after the death of one of the league’s players.
The whole of the league was rocked in October when 14-year-old Tomasz Oleszak was tragically stabbed to death in a park in Gateshead.
Tomasz was a promising young footballer who represented Cleveland Hall U15 Yellows and, remarkably, his team managed to go on to win the league in his memory.
It meant there wasn’t a dry eye in the house at the presentation evening, when the team turned up accompanied by Tomasz’ younger brother Kuba.
The six-year-old was awarded a medal in his brother’s memory, earning a standing ovation before a spontaneous collection raised thousands for the LIVES NOT KNIVES charity, which works to prevent knife crime among young people across the country.
League manager Ian Coates lept into action when he heard Kuba would be attending in order to help ensure it would be a memorable evening for all involved.
“It was quite emotional, the lad got a standing ovation from everyone there,” Ian told us.
“I went on to explain why he was there for the people who didn’t know and said to the youngsters in there that, if they ever felt the need to pick a weapon up, to speak to somebody - if they can’t speak to their parents, speak to us; if they can’t speak to us, then speak to a charity like LIVES NOT KNIVES.
“We made a fuss over Tomasz’s brother and gave him a couple of signed things from Newcastle United as well as what we call a party bag, which was donated by Grassroots - it had gloves, cones and things like that in.
“I asked everybody on their way out, if they had any loose change in the pockets, I’d get the lads from Cleveland Hall to stand there and whatever was collected for charity, we’d match from our league social fund.
“All the adults in there kindly did that - we tallied it up, there was over £1100 in there, which we matched, and then donated to LIVES NOT KNIVES on behalf of everybody for £2365.”
Ian added: “None of it was planned, we didn’t know Tomasz’s brother was coming until the manager told me on the day.
“So I thought hold on, we have to do something here. Previously, when the incident happened, we donated £750 to the family to try and help them out, because it’s important to us.
“For me, it was such bravery for the young boy to come up.”
Ian paid tribute to Cleveland Hall U15 Yellows for going on to win the league in such tragic circumstances, also revealing that Kuba’s attendance was all down to Tomasz’s former teammates.
He said: “What a thing to do in his memory, for those lads to stand together, and I’m led to believe it was their idea for Tomasz’s brother to come - they wanted Kuba to come.
“So fair play to those young men, they did the club and the league proud. They were impeccably turned out, even the little ’un, who’d been given a club tie and was dressed like the players.
“We were able to make a little bit of a fuss of the young man and his family in memory of Tomasz.”
Tomasz’s family are by no means the only people helped by the Northumberland Football League this season, with the league making a point of making sure the money they receive from fines goes to good causes.
Ian explained: “We look at every child in our league as a member of our family, so that’s how we look at it with the social fund.
“The fund came about because, under FA regulations, we have to issue fines to teams for breaking the rules, but we don’t want that money as it belongs to the clubs. So every penny raised through fines, we give back via good causes.
“Prior to Christmas there was another sad event where one of the coaches from Newcastle City Juniors had a mountaineering accident in the Lake District and sadly died, so we were able to send quite a substantial amount of money to his partner to ensure their children didn’t go without toys at Christmas.
“So we try to do things like that. I think sometimes people also forget that children can be affected - we’ve got a young lad who has played the whole season whilst both of his parents are fighting cancer. He’s continuing to turn up with a smile on his face.
“Thanks to the fund, we were able to give the family the treat of a day out.”
Yet, whilst the league may have matched donations to LIVES NOT KNIVES, Ian says nothing could have happened without the generosity of others in attendance at the presentation evening.
He said: “We’re quite fortunate that, on the day, people answered the rallying cry. It’s not us, it’s those people that decided to give - ordinarily, these days, people don’t tend to carry much cash, but they were able to give.
“The lads from Tomasz’s team stood proud - I jokingly gave them permission to turn people upside down if they needed to - and there wasn’t a person who left without putting a hand in their pocket.
“Especially with the cost of living the way that it is, I think it’s amazing. Everyone made a contribution and if that money helps the charity turn even one person around, then it’s done its job, hasn’t it?”
This story is an extract from our Kick N Mix Grassroots Football Newsletter - sign up using the form above
