DAN BONNINGTON PAYS A PERSONAL TRIBUTE TO THE LATE AUTHOR AND BROMLEY FAN DAVE ROBERTS…
I’VE always been an avid reader of football books but have a rule that when I finish one, I pop it in my bag and take it down to the local charity shop for someone else to devour.
All that changed, though, when I read Dave Roberts’ collection of books The Bromley Boys, 32 Programmes, Home and Away and his most recent offering The Long Road to Wembley.
I made the decision quite quickly that these books would not be carted off to the charity shop and instead sat them proudly on my shelf.
It was then at the end of November they shone that little bit brighter when the sad news broke that Dave had passed away peacefully after a recent battle with lung cancer.
Unfortunately, I never met the man dubbed ‘Mr Bromley’ but through his work and from following him on Twitter for the past few years, I strangely felt like we were good pals.
I’m sure most people would agree that because of his books and his passion for his boyhood club, we’ve all developed an affiliation with his beloved Bromley, a team whose results I make sure I look out for every Saturday.
I could not be happier at their position (at the time of writing) amongst the National League’s top seven.
It was also through his books that I learned he moved back to the UK from the US some years ago and pitched up in Guiseley in West Yorkshire.
Dave visited Guiseley AFC’s Nethermoor Park on many occasions and not just when Bromley were in town. Such was his popularity there, the club paid a heartfelt tribute to him through their social media accounts. They, like many, were heartbroken by the news.
Living in the north didn’t stop Dave from frequenting Hayes Lane as often as he could, none more so than the 2015-16 season, Bromley’s first in the top tier of Non-League football, when he travelled the length and breadth of the country cheering on the Ravens, as detailed in his third book, the brilliant Home and Away.
For me, though, his best book is the follow up to The Bromley Boys, 32 Programmes. It contains 32 chapters, each one represented by a programme that he chose to keep when he decided to reduce the size of his collection. Each programme is summed up beautifully as he shares with us the special and sentimental reasons each one deserves to stay in his collection.
Many of you will also know that even Hollywood came calling in 2018 when Dave’s first book ‘The Bromley Boys’ was made into a feature film.
The very talented Brenock O’Connor took on the role of the Bromley and Alan Stonebridge-obsessed teen as he grew up supporting ‘the worst team in Britain’.
At Bromley’s first home game since Dave’s untimely passing (a pulsating 3-2 win against Wealdstone), he adorned the front of their matchday programme, something I know would have made him very proud as, like me, he loved his programmes.
I want to finish this article with two words that sum up my feelings for Dave and how much his books mean to me – Thank You.
Thank you for gifting us with your writing, thank you for introducing us to the wacky world of Bromley FC and thank you for giving us all a second team to support.
Here’s hoping Bromley gain promotion to the Football League for the first time at the end of this season. What a fitting tribute to the great man that would be.
@DanBonnington
