Watford Walking Football pays tribute to Ged McLaughlin

Gerald McLaughlin, known as Ged, died aged 64 from heart failure due to the Amyloidosis, in September, with the family organising a fundraiser to help research the genetic disease.

The lifelong Watford resident and football fanatic loved playing for Watford Walking Football after a lifetime of involvement in the town's grassroots game.

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His son, Ian McLaughlin, said the team never forgot him and “kept him going and in good spirits until the end”, adding “my family cannot thank them enough”.

Teammates kept in touch through his illness, which included recording clips from games to send to him and presenting him with a trophy for his “immense skill, ability and popularity”.

Ian said: “He was the most caring and loving father. His love of the game was only surpassed by his love for his family.”

Ged and his wife Sherren both grew up in Watford, meeting when they were 13, and she cared for him until his death.

Watford Walking Football (Image: Ian McLaughlin)

“My father’s love for my mother and hers for him were always at the centre of our family life,” Ian added.

“I will always be forever blessed to have had such a wonderful dad.”

The grandfather to eight was involved in football all his life. Ged played for numerous teams, including St Michael's Roman Catholic School and B East and Son.

Later, he also managed youth teams and joined Watford Walking Football with some of the same teammates he had played with all his life.

Fellow walking player Will McCafferty said: “Like so many others I am so lucky to have Ged as a friend, an outstanding player and a caring person who did so much to encourage others to get involved in walking football with Watford WFC.”

Ged (bottom left) (Image: Ian McLaughlin)

Another teammate, Trevor Blake, called him a “genius” with the ball.

“Geddy was the most amazing dribbler l had ever seen, where others ploughed through the pitch he would glide over it,” he said.

“While we kicked the ball, he’d caress it and when he had the ball at his feet we’d go in one direction whilst he went in the other… with the football.”