There must be nothing sadder for a parent than to bury their child. That is the fate that belonged to Paul and Jacqueline Rodgers whose son Darren passed away at the Euros in France this summer. Darren's dad wrote a poignant poem about his son's death in memory of the Northern Ireland football fan.
Northern Ireland qualified for the Euros as a surprise package and even qualified from their group in France before eventually losing to Wales in the last 16. Darren had followed his team to the continent but died after a fall off the promenade in Nice.
The 24 year old had been in the south of France to see Michael O'Neil's side against Poland on June 12th and fell to his death hours after the game. Posting on Facebook his dad Paul said: "Twelve weeks today we lost our beautiful son. It seems like 12 years since we've seen him and looking back on where and why it happened I wrote this little poem, knowing he's not here to cheer on the green and white army as they start another campaign is oh so hard."
He posted a poem which talked about his son's death and the fact that 'Dar Dar' had been there to follow his country's footballing heroes:
The Ballymena man's football club, Wakehurst football club, also shared the poem on Facebook:
Fans of both Northern Ireland and Republic of Ireland paid tribute to Darren throughout the rest of the tournament with many of his countrymen wearing shirts with Dar Dar on the back or with the numbers eight or 24 on their kits for the fans club number and age.
Michael O'Neil paid tribute to the fan before the game against Ukraine in the tournament and the players wore black armbands in a match that Northern Ireland won 2-0. Republic of Ireland fans sang "Stand up for the Ulsterman" and gave a standing ovation in respect of the football fan at their game against Sweden.
(Via Independent)