Trevor Goodall
It was with deep shock and sadness that we learned of Trevor’s passing at home, suddenly, on Tuesday night.
He had been a great friend of this club for a long time, supporting us through matchball sponsorships, buying programmes, and attending events here at the club – he enjoyed the night at our Gold Cup Winners 30th anniversary event back in November 2023.
His affinity stemmed from our time shared at Seaview with his beloved Crusaders and memories of visits to Grosvenor Park. His family hailed from Yorkshire and came to Belfast many decades ago.
As a young man Trevor had a big interest in sport – coming from that part of the world he was naturally interested in cricket but he played football and was good enough to make under-age teams at Linfield, Larne and Portadown.
He always remembered Wilbur Cush looking out for the younger players when the tackles and things got tough in training or matches, when he was at Shamrock Park. But he also played tennis competitively, playing in tournaments at the Belfast Boat Club and elsewhere, and he played table-tennis when the Churches table-tennis league was active in Belfast. Most people would know Trevor though either because of his Crusaders’ connection, or through the world of football programme collectors.
He was a long-standing and faithful supporter of The Hatchetmen – a former bond-holder when things were difficult at Seaview many years ago, and heavily involved with others in establishing and building up the club’s museum, and other historical or archive projects. And on matchdays he would be there supporting his team and not necessarily quietly as some match officials may well remember over the years.
An avid programme collector, he was a well-known and highly respected member of the Northern Ireland programme collectors club building up his own collection over the decades, and in that regard we was only too willing to copy material and provide information for us here at Distillery from many years ago. That material helping us in programme production and other things.
We extend our deepest sympathies to Anne, daughters Claire and Joy and the wider family circles at this very sad and difficult time for them all. Trevor had many friends who will miss him too, many of course stunned by his sudden passing and our thoughts are with them too as they mourn the loss of a good friend.
He will be missed by us all. (DH)
