The Kent Football family is once again mourning one of their own with the sad news of the passing of Anchorians coach Steve Cooke.
Throughout 2020, Kent Sports News has paid tribute to various members of the Kent sporting family who have left us because of Coronavirus, and following Wednesday’s announcement that Kent will remain under Tier Four COVID-19 restrictions, we would like to end a horrible year for us all by paying tribute to some of the unsung members of our sporting family that this horrible disease has taken from us too prematurely…
But we need your help…
If you’re part of a club or organisation who has lost a member – be they coach, volunteer or “just” a friend – and would like to pay your own tribute, we would like to give you that platform to do so…
Just as we were going to publish this request, we heard the desperately sad news that the assistant manager of Anchorians Archers under 13s side in Gillingham had tragically lost his life to COVID on Boxing Day.
Steve Cooke was just thirty-five years old and leaves a wife and four young children and had been a part of the Gillingham Anchorians club for six years – spending the last five as the team’s assistant manager/coach.
Club chairman Leigh Willis paid his own tribute to Steve saying, “it’s so, so sad that something some people have almost taken for granted and when you do know someone who gets it to the point of being hospitalised or sadly lose their lives to it, it really does hit home and everyone has to be so, so careful.”
“We respect the family at this difficult time giving them as much support as we can and once, we’ve all got through this devasting news, and they’ve paid their tribute to Steve, the club will then look to see what we can do as a club to give a lasting memory of Steve from our club for the great person that he was and what he’d done in the six years for the kids and for his own children over the years.”
“We want to make sure that he’ll forever remain in our memory and the Anchorians family forever, working with the family in doing so.”
Mr Willis then added this plea; “We’ve all got people who have had it, got it or sadly passed away from COVID too early in their lives and it’s really, really sad!” he said.
“I just hope that everyone takes it seriously and follows the guidance from the government – it’s very, very important until we can get the vaccine out there which hopefully is now on the horizon…”
KSN joins everyone associated with Gillingham Anchorians FC in passing our condolences onto Steve’s family, and if this desperately sad story has touched you, the Club has launched a “Go Fund Me” page in Steve’s memory – if you’d like to contribute, please go to
If you’d like to pay your own tribute to any fallen members of Kent’s sporting family, please get in touch with us at [email protected] or on our Facebook page or through Twitter, and help us celebrate those who have been taken from us too soon in 2020… They must and never will be forgotten!