Last year during the tournament to mark our 15th anniversary, I chatted to one or two Accies about how I really wanted our club to be more than just a football team. I've watched how our regular oppo Wanderers FC are run and, though I would never have sufficient spare time for the kinds of community work they do, I still felt as a collective we should be able to do something for charity or be something extra-special as we move into the latter part of our second decade as a club. Not to do so seemed like a waste of the enthusiasm and talent at our disposal.
Graham Dietz was there in Palace that day, playing in the tournament, finishing on the winning team and celebrating in style afterwards, just as he had done in Rotterdam a month earlier. No one, of course, had any clue as to the awful event that would take place a little over two months later.
On the day of Graham's funeral, with so many of his UK- and Netherlands-based friends mourning together, one of our founder members Oscar first suggested the idea of cycling to Rotterdam in 2015. Several of us quickly agreed, only partly because drink had been taken, and once the ball was rolling the idea gathered pace very easily.
Over the past few weeks the plans for the trip have started to be finalised, and various Accies members past and present have been pedalling hard to train for our Century Ride, raising money for Médecins Sans Frontières at Graham's wife Valeria's request. Sponsorship money was slow to come in at first, but over the past three days an extraordinary £400 or so has been added to the total, which as I type stands at £1,216.41. The 'target' I set at the outset, £2,000, was arbitrary, but with 11 days to go it looks achievable.
I miss Graham pretty much every day. I think about him pretty much every day, when I hear a song he liked, or would have liked, or remember some fun we had, or when I'm out on my bike preparing to remember him in the best way possible - with so many of his friends, together with a common purpose that was dear to him. I absolutely hate the fact that he can't share in the experience, inspired by him, that we will have between 24-27 September. Effra Academicals IS more than just a football team, and my desire back in October 2014 for us to do more to prove that is being fulfilled. And my word, my word, Graham more than anyone would have LOVED this month's trip so much.
Our Century Ride will be the best achievement in all the years of the Accies. But it's the worst too, because I wish with every fibre of my being that Graham was still with us and, with all due respect to our chosen charity, we were still just a football team planning a football match in Rotterdam.
Up the Accies,
Stuart.
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