Remembering Neil Roberts...
Posted: Thu Feb 19, 2026 11:09 am
I put this together in 2012..
In Memory of Neil Graham Roberts: 14th December 1957 – 19th February 2011
We knew that Neil was terminally ill, but it still came as a great shock of course when
we heard the news that he had indeed passed away.
Although Neil had resided in Kent for many years, Dale Matthews told me that they had
both attended Flora Gardens Primary School and he was fairly sure that Neil had grown
up in Nasmyth Street which is by the Thatched House pub in Hammersmith.
When he arrived at the Springbok for the very last time, I said to him (or words to that effect):
Neil, sometimes you look at people and think whether they had made a difference, and you
most definitely did make a difference mate.
Where there had previously been discord amongst
some R’s fans following the Fulham Park Rangers protests, Neil built bridges and instigated lots
of new ideas. The Official Supporters Club motto became: ‘Always There’.
His funeral took place on Monday 7th March 2011 at Barham Crematorium, which is near
Canterbury in Kent.
Last June, over 400 runners took part in the annual ‘Man on the Run Race for Life’ at Hampton,
Herne Bay. Amongst the runners were a number of R’s fans including Dave Robinson, Justin Stone
and Joe Hylton.
They were competing in memory of Neil. Poignantly, Neil’s young son, Charlie,
started the race which provoked a loud rendition of ‘UR’s’. The event helps promote awareness
of male cancers.
God Bless you Neil.
Steve Russell
In Memory of Neil Graham Roberts: 14th December 1957 – 19th February 2011
We knew that Neil was terminally ill, but it still came as a great shock of course when
we heard the news that he had indeed passed away.
Although Neil had resided in Kent for many years, Dale Matthews told me that they had
both attended Flora Gardens Primary School and he was fairly sure that Neil had grown
up in Nasmyth Street which is by the Thatched House pub in Hammersmith.
When he arrived at the Springbok for the very last time, I said to him (or words to that effect):
Neil, sometimes you look at people and think whether they had made a difference, and you
most definitely did make a difference mate.
Where there had previously been discord amongst
some R’s fans following the Fulham Park Rangers protests, Neil built bridges and instigated lots
of new ideas. The Official Supporters Club motto became: ‘Always There’.
His funeral took place on Monday 7th March 2011 at Barham Crematorium, which is near
Canterbury in Kent.
Last June, over 400 runners took part in the annual ‘Man on the Run Race for Life’ at Hampton,
Herne Bay. Amongst the runners were a number of R’s fans including Dave Robinson, Justin Stone
and Joe Hylton.
They were competing in memory of Neil. Poignantly, Neil’s young son, Charlie,
started the race which provoked a loud rendition of ‘UR’s’. The event helps promote awareness
of male cancers.
God Bless you Neil.
Steve Russell