Friends hold football tribute for UAE expat killed in UK to 'keep legacy alive'
'Our friendship began on the court and Jefferson was an amazing player,' said Dinoop Suresh, one of the organisers of the event. 'We didn't want to just sit and cry about him. He would not have liked to see that. We wanted to do something to remember him and pay homage to what he represented to us. After the match, when his brother spoke, he said that it felt like Jefferson was watching over us and smiling.'
It was in July that Jefferson Justin died in a motorcycle crash. The 27-year-old, who was scheduled to visit his family in the UAE this month, was trying to negotiate a turn when his bike crashed into a wall. Last week, several of his close friends and family gathered for his funeral in Sharjah.
Dinoop said that the event was the brainchild of another one of their close friends Vishnu Venugopal, who arrived in the UAE from Spain after learning of Jefferson's demise. 'Since his death, all of us friends have been rallying around Jefferson's parents and supporting them in whatever way we could,' he said. 'We gather at their house every weekend to relive memories. That is how the discussion of such an event came about. We all pooled in money and decided to organise it.'
The game
The game, which took place on Friday evening at Dubai Sports World, had over 20 people, all of them Jefferson's friends, sign up to play. Almost 50 people turned up at the pitch to watch and support the family. Every jersey worn by the players had the name Jefferson printed on it. 'Many of them had not stepped on a pitch in several years,' said Dinoop. 'But when I distributed the flyers and posters, so many people came forward.'
To make it feel more like a competition, Dinoop said that the friends assigned the role of managers of both teams to Jefferson's parents. 'They have been through a very trying time after his death,' he said. 'The pain of losing their son, coupled with the almost two weeks to get his body here and all the related documentation was very draining for them. We wanted to have a fun activity to cheer them up while celebrating Jefferson's spirit.'
The group of friends plan to hold more such events in their dear friend's memory. 'His birth anniversary will fall on January 24,' Dinoop said. 'We want to do something at the time but we are not sure how many of us will be in town. We definitely want to keep doing things to keep his legacy alive.'
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