Remembering young March footballer Kaleb with special tournament
Young footballers took to the pitch recently in memory of a March schoolboy who died at the age of eight.
March Town United Youth hosted the first ever Kaleb Memorial Shield last Saturday (September 3) at the Estover Sports Field.
It was organised by the club and two of the March Town United's youth managers, Paul Galley and Jim Wadlow.
Kaleb Ablett sadly passed away on December 30 2019. He was a keen player with the then March Park Rangers under 9s team at the time, which Paul managed.
It had always been the plan to hold a yearly tournament in Kaleb’s memory, but with covid any plans had to be put on hold. So the club were very pleased to finally hold the first tournament, which it is intended now to run annually.
This year there were six teams who took part in a round robin event, the teams were: March Town Utd Youth Yellow; March Town Utd Youth Black; March Town Utd Youth Gold; Chatteris Town FC Youth Blue; Chatteris Town FC Youth White and Whittlesey Juniors FC Black.
All the teams are in the under 12s category - which would be where Kaleb would now have been playing.
It was congratulations to Whittlesey Juniors as they were the winners and are now the first team to have their name engraved on the “Kaleb Memorial Shield” with Kaleb’s former team mates from March Town Youth Yellow close runners-up.
Lindsey Galley, wife of Paul, said: "The tournament was enjoyed by everyone and considered a success which we hope to build on next year.
"Kaleb’s mum Claire Wesley, grandmother Julie Dickinson and sister were guests of honour and Claire and Julie presented the shield to the winners and medals to all children who had taken part.
"The club have also had a commemorative plaque made in Kaleb’s memory which has been put on the clubhouse at Estover, overlooking the football pitches.
"It is his teams aim to keep Kaleb’s memory alive within the football community, something which he loved. And offer our support to his family whenever we can.
"It felt quite apt that the tournament was held on the weekend before the majority of his team mates started senior school as Kaleb should have been, every milestone is unimaginably difficult for his family and we hope to always let them know we have special thoughts of him especially at these landmarks times."
