Posts Tagged ‘MH17’
Flight MH17: Newcastle United Fans Prove The Football Family
JOHN Alder was a passenger on board Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 on July 17, 2014, the day it was shot down over Ukraine. Mr Alder, his friend and fellow Newcastle United fan Liam Sweeney and 296 other people were killed. John and Liam were going to the match, on their way to see Newcastle United play a pre-season friendly in New Zealand.
That’s fans for you. John Alder only ever applied for a passport because he needed to see Newcastle play overseas.
Joyce Robbins, Mr Alder’s sister, is talking to George Caullkin in the Times:
“Those first few days were surreal. You’re suddenly reading and watching things at an intense rate, to try and glean as much information as possible and then you hear that they can’t even get on the crash site — it’s heartbreaking . . . You’re seeing this site and thinking: ‘My brother’s there.’ The inside of you is just screaming all the time.”
For four decades John Alder never missed a Newcastle United match. He ammassed a large collection of Newcastle United memorabilia. Joyce has graciously decided to offer the lot for auction, all proceeds going to The Sir Bobby Robson Foundation.
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