Erina player dies during match

[girvie]

http://www.smh.com.au/news/National/Young-football-player-dies-during-match/2006/08/05/1154198380698.html

Young football player dies during match

August 5, 2006 - 10:59PM

A player has died during a lower level rugby league competition match in south-western Sydney.

The 21-year-old man died while playing for Central Coast side Erina against Cabramatta in a Jim Beam Cup match that kicked off at Cabramatta Sportsground just after 6.00pm (AEST) Saturday.

Macquarie Radio said the Erina halfback collapsed while trying to play the ball after a regulation tackle.

He reportedly fell to the ground and began convulsing before being taken to the dressing room where medical staff worked on him for 40 minutes.

He was taken to Liverpool Hospital but was pronounced dead on arrival.

A spokesman for the NSWRL said there appeared to be no suspicious circumstances surrounding the death but the matter would be investigated.

This is very sad news.


Does anyone know the name of the player?

 

[ParraDude_Jay]

Very sad news.

 

[Stagger eel]

he may of been listed in the program..but we don't know for certain that is the young guy who passed away..you may want to edit your post just incase immidiate family aren't aware of it at this stage.

 

[ParraDude_Jay]

Sorry mate

 

[Nightstalker]

Yes very sad news. My condolences to the family and friends of the player.

 

[girvie]

Triple M has said that Clae Webb was the player.

He was a former Balmain junior.

 

[Miracle Balls]

Triple M has said that Clae Webb was the player.

He was a former Balmain junior.

Very sad to hear that if true. Clae was originally from Ballina I think, and played the last couple of seasons in Tigers lower grades before moving on this year. Very sad.

 

[NK Arsenal]

Sad news for Rugby League.

 

[Jeffles]

Sad news. My condolences to his family. In my dealings, I have found Erina to be a good community based, close knit club. This will be upsetting for the local community as well.

 

[2 True Blues]

Tragic news for the family. And the rugby league family as a whole !!! TRAGIC........

 

[NikkiShark]

this was from the Central Coast Extra in the Telegraph today.

Dad sees son die in Match
By Tim Elbra
A FATHER watched in horror as his 21-year old son collapsed and died in a rugby league match at Cabramatta on Saturday.
Clae Webb died of an apparent heart attack while playing for the Erina Eagles in a Jim Beam Cup match.
His parents Wayne and Debbie would regularly watch their son take the field, as he pursued, the dream of becoming a professional footballer.
On Saturday a devastated Wayne was at his son’s side as he died after a seemingly innocent tackle.
“He was with him the while time,” Clae’s aunt Kathy Webb said.
“There was always one of them at his game. They were wonderful support to him
“He was just a kid who lived and breathed rugby league.”
Webb’s immediate family are in Sydney.
A funeral date is yet to be set.
A video of the game has been given to police, with the coroner to investigate the shock death.
All witnesses to the match have declared the tackle legitimate.
Webb was tackled with the football 20 minutes into the match.
He played the ball, ran back into the line, and collapsed and could not b revived.
Team trainers and medical staff worked desperately on the 21-year-old but he was pronounced dead on arrival at Liverpool Hospital.
The match was abandoned at half-time.
Shattered players and officials from the Erina club consoled each other in a team meeting after the incident and will be offered counselling sessions tonight.
An Erina first division match was forfeited yesterday after the tragic incident, while the club’s under 19 team played with black armbands.
Erina football manager said Webb was a well liked player.
“He was a great yang kid. He made everyone laugh and had a very bad pair of board shorts that he wore all the time,” he said
Webb came from Ballina to take up a scholarship with rugby league school St Gregory’s Catholic College.
He played for Balmain’s Jersey Flegg side last year, steering the team to the finals.
“He was just a champion kid,” Wests Tigers football manager Warren McDonnell said.
“He wasn’t the biggest kid in the world but he was tough and he gave 100 per cent every week.
“It’s a terrible shame”
Webb suffered an ankle injury late last year, which flared again while playing for Western Suburbs’ Premier League side this season.
He was in his third game with Erina, where he was beginning his comeback.

 

[MELROO]

A NICER BOY YOU COULD NOT HAVE MET. Clay went to school with my boys and played footy at our club, everybody up here is in shock. Football was his life, as his dad said he died doing what he loved.

 

[axl rose]

Farewell to a star

14.08.2006 By GEORDIE PROUDFOOT

CLAE WEBB’S zest for life was best illustrated by his favourite quote — "Get busy living, or get busy dying."

This enthusiasm for life was recalled at Clae’s funeral service on Saturday, held at St John’s College Chapel in Woodlawn and attended by more than 150 family, friends and footy mates who had driven from as far as Sydney to farewell ‘a great bloke’ and a ‘wonderful son’.

Tears flowed as friends and family watched Clae grow up all over again in a Powerpoint presentation that stopped at a photograph of 21-year-old Clae with his mates, taken weeks before he died of an apparent heart attack on August 5 while playing football on the Central Coast.




Robert Stutfield, a close friend of the Webb family, paid tribute to Clae’s determination and enthusiasm for everything he had a go at.

"Clae was a footy fanatic from the word go, but he also had a wonderful cultural side," said Mr Stutfield.

"He picked up the violin without any lessons, just by listening to the music," he said. "Clae was excited about his future — whether it meant playing footy professionally or being an electrician.

"He was wise beyond his years."

Clae’s friends from St John’s Woodlawn and St Gregory’s in Sydney banded together to farewell a treasured mate.

"He could walk into a room and everyone would notice," Clae’s local buddy, Michael Scanlan, said.

"He’d talk himself into a hole, but then he’d just as quickly talk himself out of it!"

Simon Dent, Clae’s dorm master at St Gregory’s, spoke of an inquisitive young man who made friends easily.

"Clae was great with the younger kids, and very sensitive," Mr Dent said.

"He was selected on this basis to travel to Cambodia with the school in 2002 to visit under-privileged children," he said.

"The Cambodian kids got as much out of meeting Clae as he did interacting with them."

Despite having travelled to Asia, lived on a stockyard in Cobar and moved to Sydney, Clae always called Ballina home, Mr Dent said.

"Clae rang his family every second day and talked constantly of going back to Ballina to surf."

Clae’s coffin was carried out to the tune of Forever Young.

Friends and family then headed to the Ballina Seagulls Rugby League Club to share more memories of a young man who will be deeply missed by the community.

 

[Ewan McGrady's Lovechild]

Think I read that he also played a year or two for the Cobar Roosters ????

 

[[furrycat]]

He was a great fella and will be sorely missed in the Ballina and Lismore community.

 

[Pure_Knight]

Sends shivers down my spine hearing about this. Its devastating. He sounds like a really special kid, its tragic. My condolences to his family.