“Roy har lämnat oss”

It is with deep shock and great sadness that Lisburn Distillery Football club has learnt of the passing of our great friend and supporter Roy Karlsson.

We were stunned to receive the above message this morning from Jan Tholin and Christer Lindström in Sweden – it translates simply to “Roy has left us”.

Roy was one of the driving forces behind the formation of the Lisburn Distillery Scandinavian Supporters Club (LDSSC) back in 2010.

In 2011 he was a member (far left in group photo) of their first trip to watch “The Whites” in action here at New Grosvenor. And he returned almost every year since for their regular, supporters, visit.

But, outside of those annual pilgrimages, Roy would often turn-up unexpectedly at New Grosvenor. A former Air Traffic controller, he would sometimes work at Shannon Airport and during his stints there he would drive up to a game or stay in County Donegal at the home of fellow LDSSC member Neil Smith and the pair of them would take in a game at our ground.

Roy also loved golf and on his visits here he would play a round on local courses, either before or after the LDSSC annual visit.

His fellow LDSSC members, also stunned by his passing (after a short illness), have been paying their own tributes;

“Roy’s tireless optimism, great work capacity and his ability to gather friends around him will always be in our hearts. Our thoughts go out to Roy’s family and all his loved ones.” (Christer and Jan)

“A pillar of our supporter club and a fixer in many ways. Above all, a good friend and fellow human being.” (Bengt Tholf)

“Roy was an incredibly nice and warm person” (Jonas Samuelsson)

All those echo our own happy memories of Roy, a very positive individual with a broad wonderful smile that lit up our club on his visits – he will be greatly missed by all those who knew him here at Distillery.

We extend our very deepest sympathies to Roy’s family and friends at this very difficult time, and in the days ahead. We also pass on our condolences to all our friends and supporters in the LDSSC, many of whom have known Roy for a long period of time.

Hej då Roy, vår vän. Tack för ditt stöd och vänskap. Vi kommer att sakna dig, men vi kommer alltid att minnas dig.