Sadly we report the death of Roger McCall who died on 21st August 2016. He was taken ill and admitted to hospital recently with a suspected stroke but it was in fact a serious problem related to the cancer that he had. He did come home from hospital and was cared for by his wife, Rosemary.
Roger was heavily involved in NW athletics for many years, he was an ever present at competitions throughout the north and his friendly smile was familiar to many. Roger had been a member of St Helens Sutton for over 40 years and although it was 20 mile drive to club training that didn’t stop him being a regular at training nights and acting a mentor to up and coming coaches and officials.
He also advised the local leagues on optimising their competitions to make them more efficient and enjoyable. Roger contributed so much to athletics and anyone who had the pleasure of working along side him would agree.
Funeral details
7th September at 2 pm at St Mary Magdalene church, Moss Lane, Ashton-on-Mersey
Roger (left) receives his award as official of the year 2015 from EA
. What a great guy Roger was, Very helpful when advise was asked of him. Always remember the lovely chat last June at Dport amity.
Roger arrived at Sutton Harriers in the 1970’s from Dollar in Scotland and proudly announced himself as a supporter of Alloa Athletic, The club had just joined the Northern League and Roger joined me in tackling the non track events. Indeed, my finest moment was beating him in the hammer at the old Woodhouse Stadium in Wigan, a success I’ve been basking in for the past forty years.
Roger, of course, was far more practical than myself and decided if we practiced we would throw further. He did, I didn’t. Indeed he became good enough to tackle the decathlon. I never beat him in any event thereafter.
Similarly we took our officials’ exams at roughly the same time and whereas I settled for helping out at club level Roger aimed for the top and became a qualified field referee and practiced at the highest national level.
His loyalty to the club never wavered even after he moved to Manchester to live and he could always be relied upon to fit in club requirements between his other duties.
We had our differences and occasional quarrel although in fairness I’m still looking for someone I’ve never upset in athletics but if I could summarise Roger in a sentence it would be this.
The world would be a much better place if it were full of people such as Roger McCall. Rest in Peace.