TEARS FOR MATTHEW
Football coach, 22, loses cancer battle
Tributes have poured in for a much-loved East Kilbride football coach who lost his fight with cancer.
Talented Matthew Craig, a footballer and coach at Hamilton Accies, passed away on Saturday night after a battle with leukaemia.
The 22-year-old, left, who grew up in Stewartfield, had already fought hard with a debilitating illness after being diagnosed with Crohn’s disease but was dealt another cruel blow over a year ago when he was told he had blood cancer.
The News told in 2010 how Matthew played a key role in helping Team Lanarkshire’s football squad win gold at the International Children’s Games
in Bahrain. He scored a double in the group stages before the side went on to beat host city Manama 5-1 in the final.
At the age of 17, Matthew was selected for Scotland’s Under-18s Centenary Shield team and played at St James’ Park, home of Newcastle United, against England.
Tributes have flooded in for Matthew from players, friends and family who have been left heartbroken by the news.
George Cairns, head of Hamilton’s youth academy, said: “Matt had been at the club since he was 11 or 12, so 10 years. He was 22, part of the 1995s age group.
“He was a fantastic kid. As a player he signed full-time at Under-16s and Under-19s at the time. He was a very talented kid and a player. He was a rightback or a centre-half and he always won his battles, but he was the nicest kid I have ever met. “He never moaned about anything. “He took not well and it was Crohn’s disease. He battled that and had just beat it when he was diagnosed with leukaemia a year-and-a-half ago. It was a bombshell when it hit him.
“Matt is a huge loss. He was part of our community programme and took the Under-10s and Under-9s and ran the community programme in the summer and at Easter holidays.
“There are a lot of people who have played alongside and against Matt, or been coached by him, and there are a lot of fantastic tributes to him. He was a great guy.”
Accies confirmed the devastating news in a club statement.
It read: “A former academy player and latterly academy coach, Matthew will be greatly missed by us all and we were blessed to have known him over the years.
“Our thoughts and prayers are with his parents, family, girlfriend Caitlin and his many friends.”
Matthew’s family were too upset to speak to the News.
First-team midfielder Greg Docherty tweeted: “One of the nicest guys in football, absolutely devastating news.”
Accies’ Grant Gillespie, added: “Absolutely gutted... Rest in peace Matt.”
He was the nicest kid I have ever met. He was a great guy . . .