When Chalfont St Peter hosted Horsham in a Vauxhall/Opel League Division Two South match on Saturday, January 30, 1988, the 675 people who attended the Mill Meadow venue departed feeling empty, stunned, and emotional.
On what was supposed to be your run-of-the-mill Non League fixture, the clash between these two sides was abandoned after 63 minutes following a serious incident involving Chalfont’s goalkeeper, Steve King.
With the Buckinghamshire-based team leading 1-0 through Simon Church’s first-half strike, King, who was 28, collapsed and was taken to Wexham Park Hospital in Slough.
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Sadly, he died a short while later due to, what was originally labelled as ‘natural causes’, although a post-mortem concluded that the former Flackwell Heath keeper had actually suffered an on-field stroke.
Steve’s sister, Doreen ‘Dors’ Willis, 80, who lives in Loudwater, told the Free Press: “Stevie was a wonderful person and he was loved by everyone.
“There was a huge age gap between us as I was 16 years older than him - there were some people who thought I was his mum!
“He would light up a dark room and nobody had a bad word to say about him.
“I still miss him to this day.”
Just after the hour mark, Steve collided with Horsham striker Darren Campbell after attempting to catch a ball from a cross.
The coming together seemed innocuous but after a goalmouth scramble in the Chalfont end moments later, referee Ray Pearce noticed the goalkeeper’s motionless body in the six-yard box, and immediately halted the match to alert the paramedics.
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Pearce, who was also a qualified first aider, quickly ran to the shot-stopper’s side, and after understanding the seriousness of the situation, both the Chalfont and Horsham players were taken off the pitch.
An ambulance arrived, CPR and heart massages were administered, but after nearly an hour of attempted restarts, an emergency operation was carried out on the goalkeeper in Berkshire, which regretfully, was unsuccessful.
His death was confirmed by 5.30pm that evening.
Dors continued: “We couldn't believe that Stevie had died as he was as fit as a fiddle.
“He was active, he was athletic and he was a very good goalkeeper, so his death really did hit us like a tonne of bricks.
“His funeral was a few days later at St Peter's Church in Loudwater, and the building was full of friends, family, and teammates of his.
"It was packed and it was so emotional, we couldn't believe it.
"We didn’t have any time to really grieve and process what had happened.”
"It all happened so quickly."
The news of Steve’s death shocked the football pyramid to its core, that his former clubs in Chalfont St Peter, Flackwell Heath, and the defunct Hughenden and Loudwater FC made national news.
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Many big names in the sport offered their condolences which included former Chelsea chairman and owner Ken Bates, who helped organise a benefit match in the goalkeeper’s name several months later.
Dors concluded: “I loved him like he was my son, but he was my cheeky younger brother.
“His smile was infectious, and I don’t want him to be forgotten.”
Steve is regarded as one of the best players in Flackwell's history, and his performances at Chalfont are still talked about by locals from the area.
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