MH17 - Football United - RIP John Alder and Liam Sweeney

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-tyne-28363591

Two Newcastle United fans travelling to the club's pre-season tour are believed to have been among those on board a flight that crashed in Ukraine.

John Alder, thought to be in his 60s, and Liam Sweeney, 28, were on the passenger list for flight MH17, Malaysian Airlines confirmed.

The Boeing 777 from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur crashed on Thursday with 298 people on board.

Mr Adler and Mr Sweeney were travelling to New Zealand to see their team play.

One of the fans, John Adler, had been here in 1985 following Newcastle. This major Newcastle newspaper suggests fans leave condolences and tributes in the comments beneath the article:

http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/north-east-new...

"John Alder, known to fans as John ‘The Undertaker’, is believed to have been making his way to New Zealand to watch the Magpies in their pre-season tour.

John, of Gateshead, believed to be in his 60s, was well-known among Toon fans as he always wore a suit to the game.

The Toon fan has only ever missed one game since 1973 and travels to every away match. He has been to America, Thailand and New Zealand to watch his beloved team..."

Such a tragedy and may they rest in peace. Could the fever do something? RIP John & Liam on the big banner?

A dignified football occasion would be nice. All teams will wear black armbands Im sure.

A black handkerchief? held high during a minutes silents by all

They just did a brief rundown on these two fans on Talksport in the UK. Two fans well known and liked by fellow Newcastle fans and the club too. Very sad to listen to. 

Knowing the nix community and organisation I have no doubt the family and Newcastle supporters will be shown the compassion they deserve at this time. Tragic to any footballing community when you lose such passionate fans, especially under such silly and unnecessary circumstances. 

no one should not make it home from going to watch a game of football

What about 1 minute of silence for the whole aircraft and minutes applause for the two fans to show appreciation and respect? Would any visitng Newcastle fans understand this and not be offended?

The team will be wearing black armbands for both matches

http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/north-east-new...

this makes me sad! 

:-(

As Frankie Mac said everyone deserves to go to a football match and return home again.

maybe someone at the club can arrange for the Geordie anthem, Mark Knopfler's "Local Hero" to be played instead of a minute silence?

Good song that.

Excellent song, if they played it in its entirity without any interuption from some idiot announcer.

Very very sad.

instead of the Topp Twins

Just play Local hero repeatedly, would be better than The Topp Twinns. I really hope they are not going to move through the crowd of "soccer" fans and annoy the crap out of us during a game.

Wonder if it would be possible to sort it so there are 2 empty seats at the front of the Newcastle supporters bay, maybe with a Newcastle shirt & some flowers on for them?

^This

That is an excellent idea. I wonder if they already had their tickets and if someone knew where they were going to be sitting?

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c...

nice

from fb page : NZ Mags- Newcastle United FC Supporters In New Zealand

Hello Everyone,

It is with great sadness I have to report the death of 2 fellow NUFC fans who were on flight MH17 which was tragically shot down.Lifelong fans John Alder and Liam Sweeney were on their way to support their beloved Newcastle for the Pre-season games in New Zealand. I feel it my responsibility to arrange a tribute for the games over here. So far I have managed to arrange for a Minutes Applause or Silence before the game on Tuesday as well as both sets of players will wear black arm bands. Their names and photos will be up on the screens at the stadium to fully appreciate them both. I have just contacted David the GM at the Phoenix who is arranging this for us. Let's make sure we do John and Liam proud while they are with us in spirit. May God bless them and thier families as they pass through this touch time. We must be an extra 110% louder than usual for these 2 Toon lads. John has missed only one game since 1973 including all Pre-Season games, sadly Oldham vs Newcastle was his last.

Thank you all for taking your time to read this and thank you again in advance for singing your hearts out for them in a few days.

Kindest Regards,

Kane Wintersgill
NZ Mags Chairman.

These two fans would have been exactly the sort of guys that one would have loved to have sat down with and had a few bevies with and to discuss football and life in general. I'm sure their Geordie humour would have made it a great time.

Do we stay sad at this tragedy or do we celebrate their lives and devotion to the Magpie cause? A can of Newcastle Bitter might be in order. Perhaps next Saturday the suppliers at Westpac could serve up Newcastle Bitter instead of Tuis?

First details of how to pay respect.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/football/10287906/Football-community-mourns-fans-on-MH17-flight

Probably the most relevant thread for this. One of the Aussies killed was a WSW supporter.

Latest from nufc.com 

Is there an official Yellow Fever collection? If not, should we start one? I don't mind volunteering if the YF execs are busy...

Bardy

029 234 7737

Let me know.

Also if not, will there be a collection at the 4 kings on Saturday that people can donate to?

Touching to see the Sunderland fans (in particular) expressing thoughts like "This transcends football rivalry".

Hey mate, if you could organise a whip around on behalf of Fever at the pub that would be sweet. We can make an online payment on Sunday.

Will do. A bunch of us are planning on pre-matching at 4 Kings then heading to the ground.

I have also set up a www.givealittle.co.nz page for it, to allow people who won't be at the 4 Kings to donate. I am just waiting for their moderators to review and approve it and will post the link here, and on Facebook etc.

Okay, I just got this from givealittle.co.nz:

-----email from givealittle.co.nz starts here-----

Congratulations on successfully creating your Givealittle page: http://www.givealittle.co.nz//cause/YellowFeverToonMemorial

Your page is now ready to receive online donations from your own networks but must pass the moderation process before it will publicly available via the search function or category pages on givealittle.co.nz:

To get the fundraising kickstarted, consider making a donation to your page now http://www.givealittle.co.nz//cause/YellowFeverToonMemorial/donate and then emailing the above page link to two carefully selected supporters to help you get the ball rolling. Givealittle requires the first 3 donations to a page as evidence of independent endorsement of trust and confidence in your fundraising activities.

-----email from givealittle.co.nz ends here-----

So, if a few of you want to try the link,

https://www.givealittle.co.nz/member/bwtcf/project/YellowFeverToonMemorial/donate

that'd be great.

The money goes into a dedicated bank account of mine. I will give the money collected to the YF to make a donation on behalf of all of us.

Cheers, bwtcf.

Good stuff! Donated :)

Up to $190.00 donated now.

Dude, thanks for setting this up. Appreciated the opportunity to contribute more than just a comment.

Good Stuff mate. Donation done. 

Maybe thread title needs some amendment to make reference to collection?

Good idea.

A better idea would be a new thread, rather than hi jacking the existing one (sorry for that).

I will create one.

EDIT: I have created a new thread - see:

http://www.yellowfever.co.nz/categories/wellington-phoenix-discussion/topics/yellow-fever-collection-for-john-alder-and-liam-sweeny-memorial-fund?page=1#post_985105

Cheers Brandon

Donation made; handed over my WC winnings for getting Germany in the sweepstake, seemed appropriate.

Steff