CHARLTON AND EFL PAY TRIBUTES TO FALLEN PC
CHARLTON Athletic have paid a poignant tribute to PC Keith Palmer, who lost his life in the terror incident that rocked London last Wednesday.
The 48-year-old was stabbed to death as he guarded the Palace of Westminster. A fund set up to raise money for his devastated family rapidly raised more than half a million pounds.
PC Palmer was a Charlton season-ticket holder.
“Keith was a familiar face at The Valley to many supporters and sat in his same East Stand seat for many years,” said the Addicks.
“As an immediate tribute, a red and white scarf has been placed on his seat, which will remain until the next home game on Tuesday, April 4, while the club will discuss ways in which it can commemorate his life at the game itself.
“Keith was a true hero who will be greatly missed by all the Charlton family, and everyone at the club would like to offer their sincere condolences to his family and friends at this extremely difficult time.
“The club also wish to extend condolences to the families of all those victims who were involved.”
Meanwhile, the EFL are making an enhanced commitment to support their clubs in raising awareness of the dangers of knife crime. In the wake of last Wednesday’s attacks, additional financial resources are to be made available to support valuable community projects.
Some EFL clubs – including Charlton – already have specific initiatives to tackle the issue of knife crime and the fund will potentially help to expand the reach of these programmes.
EFL chief executive Shaun Harvey said: “Our immediate thoughts and sympathies are with the family of PC Palmer and all those who have seen their lives impacted by Wednesday’s awful attacks.
“Football as an industry brings many people together in a social environment to watch games – it’s their love, it’s what they do by choice.
“I believe that getting like-minded people together always gives us this opportunity to highlight a positive image of supporters and a minute’s silence taking place across all our games this weekend is an appropriate tribute to what has happened.
“Seeing the events of this week brings a lot of our community work into focus and we want to ensure football is playing its part to tackle the issue of knife crime as effectively as possible.
“We are therefore proposing to expand the outreach work of our community trusts with additional finances in order to educate people as to the negative impact that knife crime can have on many different communities.
“If we can secure the family’s support, we will be more than happy to deliver that work in the name of PC Palmer going forward as we think it will be a fitting tribute to a man whose dedication to his job ended in such tragic circumstances.”