EAGLES RELAY IN BILLY’S MEMORY
EVENT IN MEMORY OF MUCH-MISSED BILLY RAISES €4K FOR HIS CHILD
THE first Billy Anderson 24hour relay saw 26 Wexford Eagles players, along with some friends and supporters, complete a test of strength and together raise more than €4,000 after they completed a five kilometre circuit individually around Gorey during Tuesday and Wednesday of last week.
The event marked what would have been the late Billy Anderson’s 39th birthday, and donations flooded in not just from people in Wexford but from Billy’s native home the USA as well as the Irish league of American Football.
The participants dressed to impress wearing their full kit, and all of the money collected will be placed in a trust fund for Billy’s son, Finley (7).
Wexford Eagle’s Head Coach Kevin Klatt said that the level of support for this cause has been breath-taking.
‘The lads jumped in with both feet and literally every single second of those 24 hours were filled with Eagles running. It was one of our veteran players Trevor Smith, who is based in Wexford that came up with the idea, he organised it and he drove it. He put the entire thing together in a week and it was an absolutely monumental effort.
‘We are going to do something annually, it may not be a run every year but we’ll do something until Finley turns 18,’ he said.
Speaking about Billy, who sadly passed away on May 26 last year in a road traffic accident, Kevin said that Billy would have loved to have taken part.
‘Billy would have been the first guy to volunteer to run but the fact that this is going to help Finley, Billy wouldn’t have asked for anything other than that. Billy never did ask for anything for himself, he loved and worshipped that child and it would mean so much to Billy that this is being done on his behalf,’ he said.
Last year, the league created a division one trophy in Billy’s honour, the Billy Anderson Memorial Trophy for the Most Valuable Player, and Kevin said that it means a lot that it’ll be handed out annually in the division that the Wexford Eagles play in.
‘The messages of support from different teams around the league itself as well as those donations coming in from the states, it has just been fantastic and really unbelievable. Billy’s family from the states were in touch with us too to tell us how happy they were about the event.
‘Throughout the run the team experienced applause, support, shouts and cheers and once the run actually started the donations almost doubled. People really got behind it and I know the lads so appreciated that,’ he said.
There is still time to make a donation to this cause, search Billy Anderson 24 hour relay on www.gofundme.com.