More tributes to Dave Lish


Many Salut! Sunderland
readers have seen Pete Sixsmith’s warm tribute to Dave Lish, the SAFC fan who died suddenly on Nov 22.

Dave and Pete were chatting as usual at the Arsenal game the day before, when there was nothing to suggest Dave was other than in good shape and excellent spirits.

Following our obituary, a lot of other people have now added their own thoughts on Dave and these deserve to be repeated.

In particular, mention at Ready to Go of what Pete wrote has prompted a few more to offer sympathy and homage.

One supporter, signing himself The Fulwell, wrote these words:

Went to his funeral at Sunderland crem on Saturday.
Fantastic turnout for Lishy – vicar said it was the biggest that he’d ever seen at the crem in his 40 years in the business.
Rob Mason paid an absolutely fantastic tribute to him.

And Mike Amos had this to say in his Northern Echo column Backtrack (after referring to the death of Tony Parry, a former Hartlepool player credited with saving the club from extinction):

…. Less well known except to those of us on the Northern League circuit, Dave Lish has also died. A passionate football man, knowledgeable and opinionated, he held a Sunderland season ticket but still tried before Christmas each season to see a match on all 42 Northern League grounds.

Dave, who lived in Sunderland, was one of those people whom it was always a reassuring pleasure to see among the crowd or in the queue for the tea hut. He was just 50, and will be missed tremendously.

A death notice in the Sunderland Echo read simply:

LISH Grangetown Suddenly, on November 22, aged 52 years, David, son of Alan and the late Mavis (nee Lorraine). Cortege leaving family home at 11.40am, Saturday, for service in Sunderland…

For those who have missed it, here again is the link to Pete Sixsmith’s appreciation of his good friend (and the 10 comments left to date, some of them – Rob Mason’s included – are very moving):

http://salutsunderland.com/2009/11/soapbox-dave-lish-rip-an-affectionate-farewell-to-a-good-man/

Tags: , , , , ,

Colin Randall, aka Monsieur Salut, is a Sunderland supporter from boyhood, a freelance journalist and the owner of the Salut! group of websites covering subjects from SAFC to France, travel, the media and current affairs. He spends much time abroad but keeps his season ticket and gets to games when possible, otherwise relying on TV, the internet and radio commentary via the official club site

Trackbacks/Pingbacks

  1. Soapbox: on Kenwyne, Ryan and a chilly night at Hetton | Salut! Sunderland - December 2, 2009

    [...] More tributes to Dave Lish [...]

Leave a Reply

Soapbox at Stoke: Pulis enraged, fails to engage brain

Pete Sixsmith slogged back from Stoke, happiness at the well-won points a little offset by the rigours of seven hours [...]

Did Meyler dive? Is Huth a saintly Stoke figure? Is Pulis serious?

Martin O’Neill said, ahead of viewing replays, he thought it a nasty challenge. David Meyler has ample reason, after suffering [...]

From Stoke to Sunderland, Burnley to Peterborough, here’s to the travelling fans

Martin O’Neill said it: It’s delightful to get the three points on the board as they are very important to [...]

Martin’s Musings on winning at Stoke: there’s snow stopping us

Awful day, not a wonderful match but Martin O’Neill was rightly happy to see his team adapt better to the [...]

Salut! Sunderland’s Week: Boro, Norwich and Stoke in seven days

… in which another week is reviewed for the reader who is too engrossed in work, study or play, or [...]

Stoke v SAFC Who are You?: Deano’s ‘our low-skill, non-scoring star’

Chris Jones*, an administrator on three Stoke City fan sites, is Welsh and could talk for Wales on All Things [...]