New Buckenham Sunday will keep playing right way for Tom Friswell

Published: 11:34 AM February 14, 2013 Updated: 10:59 PM October 10, 2020

Ben Casey presenting the Sporting Award to New Buckenham's Gareth Hobley. Back, l to r, Phil Firman, Andy Holloway, Greg Harrison, Ben Casey, Gareth Hobley, Ashley Ling, James Beales, Zac Taylor. Front: Spencer Ashman, Jason Winser, Martin Andrews, Richard Halfacree, Rob Whittred, Harley Durrant, Jamie Porter. - Credit: Archant

New Buckenham Sunday footballers have dedicated the winning of an award to their late manager and pledged to keep playing “the right way” in his honour.

After the village side received the Norwich Sunday League’s latest Sporting Award, Gareth Hobley, captain of the Division 2a outfit, paid tribute to inspirational manager Tom Friswell, who died before Christmas after a battle against lung cancer.

“The club was founded in 2007 and he was there from day one. He brought us up to play the game the right way and in the right spirit,” said Gareth.

Tom, who was in his 70s, was being sadly missed said Gareth, who is currently combining captaincy with the manager and secretary’s jobs. “It has left a big hole in the club and it will be hard to replace him. We’ll just keep going and hopefully be able to restructure for next season. We will keep playing for him and do our best for him to make sure we keep the values he set.”

Under Tom’s guidance the team, which joined the Norwich Sunday League in 2010-11 after early years spent in the South Norfolk League, enjoyed three promotions and reached a cup final.

You may also want to watch:

Evening News Copy IT Norwich Sunday League secretary Ben Casey added: “Tom was a genuinely nice person, who loved his football club. I used to recieve an email from him on many Sunday evenings, telling me about his game that day and he was always full of ideas that he thought would benefit the running of the league. His death is a sad loss not only to his family and football club, but to the Sunday League as well.”