Shoreham Airshow crash: Football team pays tribute to tragic players

Applause: Some of the players looked close to tears
PA
Hannah Al-Othman6 September 2015

Team-mates of two footballers killed in the Shoreham air disaster fought back tears today as they played their first match since the tragic deaths.

Worthing United players Matthew Grimstone and Jacob Schilt, both 23, were on their way to a game when a Hawker Hunter jet ploughed into the A27 at Shoreham in West Sussex last month.

Tributes were paid to the pair at the club's FA Vase match against East Preston today, which was played in front of a sold-out 1,000-strong home crowd.

A minute's applause was held before the game, when some of the players appeared close to tears.

Fans were able to buy blue and white scarves featuring the names of the two players before the match, while their pictures featured on the front of the match day programme, and their names were also included in the team sheets alongside the letters RIP.

Supporters look at floral and football shirt tributes to the two Worthing United players
PA

A wall of football shirts has built up outside the ground in the days since the tragedy, and many supporters stopped to read the messages written on the shirts and on the floral tributes laid next to them as they arrived for the match.

During the warm-up, players from both teams wore t-shirts paying tribute to Mr Grimstone and Mr Schilt.

Speaking before the kick off, Worthing United boss Nigel Geary said the match would be "emotional" for all those involved with the club.

He told BBC Radio Five Live: "They just loved playing. Both of them dedicated their lives to playing. They were the two nicest of lads. It's hit the squad extremely hard."

Mr Grimstone, a goalkeeper for Worthing United, had worked as a groundsman at Brighton & Hove Albion football club for seven years.

Following his death, his parents Sue and Phil and brothers David and Paul called him the "kindest person you could ever meet".

They said: "The family are in total shock at losing our dearest son Matthew so tragically at 23 years old."

Meanwhile Mr Schilt, who played in midfield, was described by his manager as "very tenacious" and who held his own against players twice his size.

The match ended with Worthing United beating East Preston 2-1.

Eleven people died in the crash when the vintage plane plummeted to the ground during the Shoreham Airshow on August 22.

The pilot, Andrew Hill, was left fighting for his life and has been moved to a specialist hospital for treatment.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in