Whilst the eyes of the footballing world were on Wembley on Saturday afternoon, an emotional event at Huish Park held plenty of resonance for Fulham fans. A fundraising fixture, between Yeovil Town and a South West Legends side, was staged at the Glovers’ home ground for the former Yeovil and Exeter City striker Adam Stansfield, who died aged 31 from cancer. The foundation set up in Adam’s honour has raised hundreds of thousands of pounds to give local young people the chance to develop life skills through sport.
It is personal to me, as I watched many of Stansfield’s 39 goals in his four years with the Grecians, as a student in Exeter. His professionalism and passion for the local community were well known even before his diagnosis, but soared with the way he bravely battled such a gruesome disease. Jay’s move from Exeter’s academy set-up to Fulham a couple of years ago was, of course, completely coincidental but gave me a greater connection to this uniquely compassionate family, who have already delivered transformational change throughout the South West through the work of the foundation, which is indebted to the incredible generosity of a team of wonderful volunteers. They are closing in on £350,000 of fundraising – spread across Devon, Somerset and Hereford (where Adam also played) having initially planned to only run the foundation for five years.
Jay kicked off the match on Saturday and there was a lovely moment when another of Adam’s sons, Taylor, scored the final goal in an entertaining 3-3 draw. There is no word yet on the actual amount the day delivered for the foundation as donations are still pouring in from a community that clearly cherishes Adam and his family. Fulham fans may wish to add to the haul here.
