Charlie Walker had a deep love for the game

He was still a coach, still getting into a player’s head, determining who needed cajoling, who would be incentivised by reward, all to elicit a better account of themselves, writes Michael Clifford

MY SON came home last Monday and asked: “What are we going to call Charlie’s football now?” It was the lad’s way of processing grief. The Charlie he was referring to had been overseeing football in the school since long before he and his older brother first began there. During that time the after-school activity that consisted of a game of ball was known simply as ‘Charlie’s football’.

On Sunday Charlie died after a short illness. He was 89 years of age, which is some age to be overseeing football for primary school children.