Betway are help raise awareness for the male cancer charity on the Down Under tour founded in memory of Perth-born Dylan Tombides, the promising Academy of Football player who passed away in 2014, aged just 20.
Tombides played youth football for the city’s Stirling Lions club before discovered by the Irons and became a young player with us at just 16 2010. He was abrilliant centre forward who became a fuirst team player just one year later.
Sadly like the Great Bobby Moore he was diagnosed with testicular cancer but his came after a ng a random drugs test at the 2011 FIFA U-20 World Cup finals/
He underwent intense treatment before making his senior West Ham debut in September 2012 but tragicallythe cancer returned aggressively and, despite his incredible positivity and resilience, he died in April 2014, only three months after playing for his country for the final time at the AFC U-22 Championship.
The club’s official website recalls his shirt being retired following his death, an honour only previously bestowed on the late, great Bobby Moore.
Mooro too had first been found to have testicular cancer as a young man – and his family created the DT38 Foundation in February 2015. Just weeks later, Betway made the first of a number of donations to fund the charity’s mission to raise awareness and change the stigma associated with men’s health issues.
Now West Ham’s players will proudly wear the DT38 Foundation logo on their new 2023/24 Umbro Home shirts in the pre-season tour fixtures with A-League side Perth Glory (Saturday 15 July, 6pm AWST/11am BST) and Premier League rivals Tottenham Hotspur (Tuesday 18 July, 6pm AWST/11am BST) at Perth’s Optus Stadium.
Claret and Hugh says: Well done Betway. This a great thing do at precisely the right time. Both Dylan and Mooro were great West Ham heroes. That they should have been struck down at the expense of this ghastly disease is just horrible and it is so sad that it should happen within the same club. Dylan will be remembered throughout this tour as a result of our main sponsor’s actions and we should all be grateful for that.