Matthew started at the University about a year after I did.

I was delighted that he had been appointed as (a) he apparently played football and (b) was very tall and we desperately needed a goalkeeper. Given these facts, Matthew was immediately co-opted into the faculty of ESSL football team "Class Act", a name which in no way reflected the footballing skills of its members (i.e. we were rubbish). 

Matthew quickly demonstrated his independent spirit by refusing to play in nets, preferring instead to show off his silky skills up at the front of the pitch, where his signature move was to spin the ball away from the defender and then do it again and again (and again) until the defender either became too dizzy to concentrate or lost interest, at which point Matthew would strike - usually the post.

We must have played 100s of footie matches together over the past 14 or so years, winning four times. I should say that it was not the winning that was important, but the taking part, but this would be a complete lie - we both wanted to win and would argue througout the game and afterwards about the best way to do this. These discussions would become quite heated, but we would nearly always end up laughing at how ridiculous we both sounded.

The fortunes of the football team has improved recently - we haven't lost a game for ages, due to matches being cancelled as a result of the pandemic - and I am sad that Matthew isn't around to enjoy this. I miss him very much.