How a tragic death links West Ham to the tiny Perth football club whose ground the Premier League giants are using as their base during trip Down Under to play Spurs
- Dylan Tombides was a West Ham player from the age of 15
- Aussie striker died aged 20 in 2014 from testicular cancer
- Players trained in Perth this week and remembered Tombides
- On a pre-season tour, Hammers will play Perth Glory and Tottenham
Dylan Tombides is a West Ham legend in the eyes of many football fans – despite one professional appearance for the Premier League club.
The Young Socceroo, tipped by many to be a future star, lost his battle with testicular cancer aged just 20 in 2014.
Born in Perth, he was signed by the Hammers at the age of 15, after playing his junior football at Stirling Lions.
So naturally, with West Ham on a pre-season tour of Australia where they will play A-League side Perth Glory [July 15] and Ange Postecoglou’s Tottenham [July 18] at Optus Stadium, manager David Moyes sent his team through their paces at the training base of the Lions.
They also wore t-shirts featuring Tombides’ name and number 38 on the back in a tribute to their former player.
Dylan Tombides is a West Ham legend in the eyes of many football fans – despite one professional appearance for the club (pictured, playing for Young Socceroos in 2014)
The striker was just 20 – and on the books of West Ham at the time – when he lost his battle with testicular cancer
Long term Stirling Lions president Don Evans – himself a long-time West Ham fan – was buzzing to see his heroes in the flesh, and elated to see Tombides remembered.
‘It is emotionally touching, because you know the battle that he went through and the battle that [his family] Tracylee, Jimmy and Taylor went through and you saw that pain, everyone did their best to support and love and care,’ Evans told the West Australian.
‘The reason Dylan’s got the respect he has from all the West Ham people and the football community in general is he never gave up in his battle and he fought so hard.
‘He showed the world how great he was…[in my eyes] he would have been our Mark Viduka for the Socceroos.’
Almost a decade since his passing, the striker hasn’t been forgotten at West Ham.
West Ham are on a pre-season tour of Australia and trained at Tombides’ junior club, the Stirling Lions, this week in Perth and wore training tops with Dylan’s name and number on it
West Ham players signing autographs for fans after a training session at Macedonia Park in Perth ahead of their matches against Perth Glory and Tottenham
The club retired his no.38 playing number – an honour he shares with football great Bobby Moore, who captained England to victory in the 1966 World Cup.
Tombides was just 17 when he was first diagnosed with cancer after playing for Australia in the Under-17 World Cup in Mexico back in 2011.
A random drugs test uncovered a tumour in one of his testicles.
The striker then had chemotherapy and two stem cell transplants, but lost his brave battle three years later.
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