Dylan Tombides

Dylan Tombides

Tombides warming-up for West Ham United
Personal information
Full name	Dylan James Tombides[1]
Date of birth	(1994-03-08)8 March 1994
Place of birth	Perth, Australia
Date of death	18 April 2014(2014-04-18) (aged 20)
Place of death	London, England
Height	1.86 m (6 ft 1 in)
Playing position	Striker
Youth career
2010–2012	West Ham United
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
2012–2014	West Ham United	0	(0)
National team‡
2011	Australia U17	5	(1)
2014	Australia U23	4	(0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 26 September 2012. † Appearances (Goals). ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 21 January 2014

Dylan James Tombides (8 March 1994 – 18 April 2014) was an Australian soccer player who played as a striker for West Ham United and the Australian under-17 and under-23 teams.

Club career

Dylan Tombides with West Ham.

Tombides played youth football in Australia with Stirling Lions SC and Hong Kong before joining West Ham United aged 15.^[2] Playing for West Ham in their reserve team he was an unused substitute in the Premier League game on 22 May 2011 against Sunderland.^[2]

On 25 September 2012, he made his professional debut, in his only game, for West Ham in a 4–1 home defeat to Wigan Athletic in the League Cup coming on as an 84th-minute substitute for Gary O'Neil.^[3][4]

International career

Tombides played in the Under-17 World Cup in Mexico in 2011. He represented Australia in games against Côte d'Ivoire, Brazil, Denmark and Uzbekistan, scoring the winner against Côte d'Ivoire. In January 2014, he represented Australia at the AFC U-22 Championship in Muscat, Oman. He played in games against Oman,^[5] Iran,^[6] Japan,^[7] reaching the quarter-final stage against Saudi Arabia.^[8]

Cancer diagnosis and death

Fans' tribute to Dylan Tombides at the Boleyn Ground, Upton Park

In 2011, Tombides was diagnosed with testicular cancer, discovered after a random drugs test taken shortly after he had played for Australia's U-17 team in a 4–0 defeat against Uzbekistan in the Under-17 World Cup in Mexico.^[9]

In June 2012, after treatment, Tombides was told he was back to full health and returned to training,^[10][11] and made his West Ham debut in September 2012. He died on the morning of 18 April 2014, with his family surrounding his bedside.^[12] On 19 April 2014 before a game against Crystal Palace at the Boleyn Ground, his father and brother Taylor, laid a shirt on the centre spot which carried Tombides' squad number 38 and his name. West Ham United announced that this number would be retired from use,^[13] an honour previously bestowed by the club only to Bobby Moore.^[14][15] In February 2015, The "Dylan Tombides DT38" charitable foundation was launched with the aims of fundraising, raising awareness of testicular cancer and of the education of young people on the subject.^[16]

Fans' tribute to Dylan Tombides at the Boleyn Ground, Upton Park

References