Tributes paid to rugby fan and family man Dave
A DEVOTED family man and key figure at Hinckley Rugby Club who was passionately committed to the game has died.
Dave Marsden was treasurer at the club and died at the age of 59 after a two-year battle with kidney cancer.
The popular dad was described in a tribute on the club website as “humble, caring, kind, unselfish, bright” and one who “brought out the best in many”.
He is survived by his wife Karen and their three children, Huw, 29, George, 27 and 23-year-old Lucy.
Huw said: “He was great, the key thing was he was always there for support. He had a very busy job, but he always managed to make it to the games, whether it was me and George playing rugby or Lucy playing netball.
“Now being in a busy job myself, I don’t know how he managed it.”
Dave got Huw into playing rugby from the age of six when the family was still living in Bristol, and he got involved with Hinckley Rugby Club when his two sons started playing for the mini junior team.
Club chairman John Tilley said in the tribute piece: “He was always an active member and volunteer and soon became known as “Spreadsheet Dave” through his attention to detail and the use of the customary Excel spreadsheet.
“As his sons’ progressed through the age groups, Dave became more active in HRFC’s senior management first as the secretary and then as the treasurer.
“He had an uncanny skill of keeping people focused on the prize and was one of the core people involved who ensured that the strides the club has made over the last ten years actually happened.
“Dave showed a remarkable dedication to the club which for those who look on would not be able to understand. He was part of the bedrock of HRFC.
“It wasn’t until he wasn’t there we came to realise how much he did. Without doubt he did the job of three people.”
He worked for the NHS in a number of different IT roles, spending some time at George Eliot Hospital and in Leicester, before retiring a few years ago.
He was also passionate about food, especially curries, and he used to go to Simla and Silchar in Hinckley as well as the Mango Tree in Stoke Golding.
Huw said the family have been overwhelmed by the messages of condolence they have been sent.
“The amount of people we have heard from, from all over the place, just shows how great he was. We are all overwhelmed by how well liked he was, in all places”, he said.
“The time he had for people and that he would go out of his way for things - he’d do things for them no other boss would have done.
“The rugby club didn’t realise how much he’d done until he wasn’t doing it anymore.
“He would just throw himself into anything, he just loved getting stuck in.
“People just seemed respect him.”
You can read the full tribute to Mr Marsden on the Hinckley Rugby Club website.
Mr Marsden’s funeral will be held at Countesthorpe crematorium on February 20 at 11am. to