Friends of Penn teenager Alexander Jansons, who died of heart condition in 2013, have formed Beaconsfield’s first Sunday pub football club for 35 years in his honour.
White Hart FC, made up of 20 of Alexander’s friends, celebrated their official launch at the White Hart pub on Aylesbury End on Thursday, with the sponsorship of the Alexander Jansons Foundation.
The foundation was set up after the death of 18-year-old Alexander who died of myocarditis in July 2013.
The teenager was walking back to his home in Penn after a night out when he died suddenly from the heart condition.
Since his death, the foundation has pledged to raise a minimum of £80,000 per year for the next three years to fund research into the causes, prevention and cures for myocarditis.
Mayor John Read was present when the Sunday league football team, who have already played against other pub teams in the area and are currently top of the league, was officially launched.
Alexander Jansons
Andy Jansons, Alexander’s father, hopes the team will continue to play in his son’s memory.
Speaking at the launch, he said: “As a foundation we feel really privileged to be involved with White Hart FC. Alexander loved to play football, he was doing fantastically well at university. He was breaking into the first team there and he really got stuck in and enjoyed himself, so it feels really appropriate for us to get involved in this.
“It is in his spirit and the colours you are playing in are the charity colours and it means a lot to us. Hopefully you can go on playing in his spirit and really enjoy yourselves.
“The White Hart have been very generous in their support for the team. It’s a fabulous thing to bring everyone back together. It is nice to see this sort of thing coming back in again because we are losing a lot of pubs.”
Special guest, Mayor John Read, hopes to continue the relationship with the foundation that former Mayor Steve Jones created.
He said: “The Alexander Jansons Foundation was my predecessor Steve Jones’ chosen charity, so it is nice to be able to keep that connection going.
“It’s great to be able to welcome them back as our Sunday league team, hopefully it will be the start of a renaissance of community pub teams in the town. I wish the team the best of luck, they have had a fantastic start.
“It’s a wonderful example of different areas of our community working together locally. The foundation has enabled the team to come together and I welcome the team to Beaconsfield.”
Ronnie Milligan, manager of White Hart FC said the support of the White Hart has been invaluable.
He said: “Every Sunday when the team comes back from training, the pub provides the team with a roast dinner. They have been brilliant, they supply everything for us. Collectively, as a team, as a pub, the players, we’re all in it together. It’s very much of a village atmosphere.
“70 per cent of the team have been playing together since they were very young. There is no Sunday men’s football team based out of Beaconsfield and there is no pub football team in Beaconsfield. We are the only one and we are concentrating on winning the league this year. The cups and trophies will come later.”
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