The fifth anniversary of the tragic passing of Dan Wilkinson is on Sunday.
Ahead of the anniversary, former Shaw Lane AFC boss Craig Elliott remembers Dan and the events of Monday 12th September 2016.
“He had everything in front of him and that’s what the tragic story is,” Craig Elliott, now manager of Boston United in the National North, says as he begins to reflect on the tragedy
“Girlfriend (Lauren), job, a good age for his football and looking forward to a good season.
“He was just a young happy lad who was looking forward and enjoying life.
“I’ve got a family myself and children so you start to think about how you would feel and how you would react and it is horrendous.
“It is something (his family) will never ever get over.”
Aged 24, Dan collapsed during the second half of Barnsley-based Shaw Lane’s Intergro League Cup tie at Brighouse Town and sadly passed away from an underlying heart condition called Arrhythmogenic Right Ventricular Cardiomyopathy.
Elliott was a central figure on the night as he accompanied Dan in the ambulance and he was the main contact for his parents Barry and Gill.
At that period in his management career, Elliott, the greatest Yorkshire-based Non League manager of the last decade, had enjoyed non-stop success.
Yet for many months Elliott, then a schoolteacher, was haunted by the trauma of what he witnessed and he seriously considered resigning from his Shaw Lane post and walking away from football.
“It was one of the most difficult periods I’ve had as a manager in terms of reflection,” Elliott tells Non League Yorkshire.
“I became fragile in the weeks after and I had thoughts just after about whether to stop managing.
“You put things into perspective and you question whether you should spend more time with your family, kids.
“What is more important in life?
“I went round a few times to see his mum and dad and you think that time with your kids is more precious than winning games of football.
“I was an intense manager who wanted to win all the time.
“Really it didn’t matter anymore.
“My wife (Vicki) knew how upset I was and how I struggled with it.
“The thing is when you’re a manager everybody thinks you’re alright.
“Everybody was rightly looking after the players but you have to have this element of strength as a manager.
“It is like the swan situation, above the water everything looks calm but underneath it was difficult and my wife was a big help and she got me through it.
“I’m really thankful for that.”
Dan Wilkinson
Defender Dan joined Shaw Lane in late August 2016 after leaving Rushall Olympic.
His football career had begun at his home-town club Hull City in 2010.
He then dropped into Non League Football, playing for Scarborough Athletic, Goole AFC, Loughborough United while studying for his Accounting and Financial Management degree.
“I think he was at Rushall and we needed a centre-back and he became available to us,” Elliott says.
“i can’t really remember how he came to us but he obviously came to training and really impressed us so we signed him straightaway.
“His CV was good and he’d been at Hull and Scarborough and I’d heard good reports about him.
“He was really dedicated and really fit and that was the big thing that stood out for me.
“He was a mobile and fit centre-back and he was a good lad around the place and he got on with everyone.
“He settled really quickly and he was a well-liked lad.
“It is very easy to say that for the sake of it but that’s the truth.
“He was a popular member of the team and liked by everybody.
“He always had a smile on his face and that’s how he was.
“He was easy to get on with and there was no edge to him.
“Although he hadn’t been at the club a long time it felt like he had been there a long time.”
Another cruel aspect for Elliott is the fact he was never able to get to know Dan as a person as the defender had only signed six weeks before the tragic night.
There is no stories from memorable team nights out for instance.
But Elliott saw something different to many players who he tried to sign while at the helm of the Ducks.
Because Shaw Lane had huge ambitions, monetary negotiations with players could be tricky – not with Dan.
“He wanted to come to be successful and he didn’t want to come as a mercenary that was coming for big money,” he says.
“He probably had other offers elsewhere and better offers – but he wanted to be successful and be part of something.
“Everything in terms of his deal was pretty easy to sort and him as a person I never had one bit of bother which is unusual for most players.
“He wasn’t interested in money.
“When I spoke to him it was all about the challenge and the journey.
“The deal was done pretty quickly because he wanted to come for the right reasons which was another attraction of why I wanted to sign him.”
Dan formed a formidable centre-half alliance with Shaw Lane captain Ryan Qualter and the pair contributed to a strong start to the NPL Division One South season.
“It was really strong partnership and they were looking the real deal,” he says.
“They both got on really well and off-the-pitch their relationship was very strong.
“It is funny because during the game before (on the Saturday) I had a go at them both at half-time – I can remember it and it was away at Leek.
“It was unusual for me to have a go at them two but we could have been better.
“I think somebody called Rice played upfront for Leek and he was getting a few chances so I had a niggle at him and Qualts saying they had to do better.
“Because of how they are they took it in their stride and in the second half they were brilliant.”
Shaw Lane won 2-1 at Leek – one of the strongest sides in the Division.
Understandably Elliott rang the changes for the League Cup clash at Brighouse Town 48 hours later.
Dan was nearly rested.
“The last conversation I had with him will have been before the game and it is quite tragic in itself,” he says.
“Because it was a cup game that we weren’t too bothered about and because we’d had a tough battle against Leek on the Saturday I was making changes and it was on my mind to rest him that night.
“That is one thing that sticks in my head.
“I had a conversation with him and he wanted to play.
“I had made three or four changes and I was going to make more but he was one of them who wanted to play and didn’t want to rest.
“He just loved playing football and it showed that night.
“It is something you think about and it is something where you think ‘what if’?
“People have said to me that something could have happened at the side of the pitch or five days later.”
Monday 12th September 2016
Integro League Cup
Brighouse Town v Shaw Lane AFC
The Teams
Brighouse Town: Hall, Pollard, Spires, Illingworth, Pearson, Atkinson, Moke, Murray, Jerome, Frost, Buchanan. Subs: Mallory, Taylor, Robinson, Haigh, Bunch.
Shaw Lane AFC: Stewart, Byrne, Radford, Yates, Wilkinson, Kelvin Lugsden, Algar, Harris, Allott, Tuohy, Thornton. Subs: Qualter, Wafula, Istead, Kieran Lugsden, Zaniewski.
The Match
Few will remember the specifics of the actual game.
Young striker Jack Tuohy had given Shaw Lane the lead in the 39th minute and Alex Byrne doubled it in the 43rd.
It was just a normal night for all-conquering Shaw Lane until the hour mark.
On the edge of his penalty area at the social club end of Brighouse’s ground, Dan collapsed to the floor with no-one around him.
The game was stopped.
“Initially you’re thinking it is a head injury and nothing serious,” Elliott says.
“A few minutes went by and it escalated pretty quickly and you realised it was serious.
“My brain couldn’t put it all together and there was a lot of shock.
“There were surreal scenes that nobody wants to see again.”
Shaw Lane physio John Williamson, Brighouse manager Paul Quinn plus several others worked together to administer CPR whilst the ambulance was on its way.
Two fast responders also arrived and Dan was treated on the pitch for around 30 minutes before being taken to Calderdale Royal Hospital in Halifax.
Dan’s parents were phoned and they set off from home in Hull – and Elliott memories at this stage of the evening remain pretty vivid five years on.
“I went through to the hospital with Dan in the ambulance and I saw how bad it was,” he says.
“Because I had a son and daughter there was a sense of guilt from me because I knew he had passed away and I was on the phone to his mum and dad.
“I was trying to calm them down because they were driving a long way from Hull.
“There was an over-riding sense of guilt that everything wasn’t alright but yet I was on the phone constantly every ten minutes giving them an update.
“It was like slow-motion when they got there and they were sprinting across the car park and I remember feeling guilty because I knew he had already passed away.
“They went into a private room to be told but I would imagine by my reaction they knew something wasn’t right.”
All the Shaw Lane players, still in their muddy kits, travelled to the hospital.
“They got us a room upstairs and I think I walked in for the first time with his parents,” he says.
“They went up to see the players which was incredibly brave of them.
“I just remember thinking how brave they were to go into a room full of players.
“As you can imagine there were a lot of cuddles and tears and high emotion.
“What can you say, there were no words.
“It must have been two or three o’clock in the morning, if not later, before I left the hospital.
“The journey home was teary and I didn’t go to work the next day.
“I didn’t sleep all night.
“I think I was in tears with my wife when I walked in.
“It makes you think of your family and of Dan and what happened.
“You don’t expect to go to a football match and a player pass away like that on the pitch.
“I couldn’t comprehend it and even now you can’t believe it.”
Shaw Lane played five days later as the squad voted to play the NPL Division One South home fixture with Romulus.
Club chairman Craig Wood renamed the main stand after Dan and had signage installed with pictures of him.
His family attended the fixture and embraced the players at the end after a 2-0 victory.
The whole of Brighouse Town Football Club were present as well and they walked out with the two teams.
Dan funeral’s took place two weeks later and the tragedy galvanised Shaw Lane who went on and won the league title and Sheffield Senior Cup in his memory.
“When you look around and think about Dan; he came to the club to win the league and I mentioned that a lot,” Elliott says.
“He loved playing football and we had to show that in our performances and we had to do it in his memory and that’s what drove us.
“When we got nearer to the finishing line Dan was a big motivation for us to do it for him.
“It was an outstanding tribute to him.
“We had to do it, we had to win that league in his memory and his family.
“I’m really proud of everyone involved at Shaw Lane from the chairman, to the volunteers, to the players, everyone involved.
“We showed so much respect to him in the final game when we did do it as well.
“There were some nice photos and emotional photos as well.
“There’s a particular one where the players have got their backs to the camera with the Do It For Dan shirts on and Mat (Zaniewski) lifting the cup.
“It is quite emotional photo for me when I see it sometimes.”
Elliott and everyone who was present that night at Brighouse are surrounded by constant reminders of Dan.
The events at Euro 2020 involving Christen Eriksen is a recent example.
But, 24 hours after Elliott spoke to NLY, Boston’s youth team’s FA Youth Cup tie at West Bridgford was abandoned after 17-year-old Dylan Rich collapsed.
He later passed away in hospital.
It is one reason why Dan’s parents Barry and Gill set up the Dan Wilkinson Foundation and are doing exceptional work to raise awareness of Cardiac Risk in the Young and to provide funding for heart screening, defibrillators and CPR/defibrillators training for grassroots sporting teams.
“I got a text from his dad a few weeks ago to say they wouldn’t be able to make the memorial game (at Wombwell Town) and to see how I was,” he says.
“It was nice and we’ll always have that connection, even if we keep in touch on a yearly basis.
“The big out of it all is the awareness and trying to prevent it from happening again to other people.
“The more awareness and defibrillators the better and it is amazing what his family have done.
“It is a fantastic legacy for Dan and I think when something like this happens you try and channel all your energy into helping others and I think the foundation is amazing.”
Elliott is not sure yet how he will mark the fifth anniversary on Sunday.
“I’ll have a moment and speak to my wife and family,” he says.
“I’m sure we’ll talk about what happened.
“I’m sure I’ll speak to people like (assistant manager) Darren Smith and some of the players.
“Because Shaw Lane doesn’t exist anymore it is difficult to have a moment but that group and club will always have that bond between us all because of Dan.
“His memory is always with us.”
He just hopes a memorial match is organised to be held at Brighouse Town in 2022.
“I think it would be fitting if we could some sort of game at Brighouse next year with the old Shaw Lane lads and the people at Brighouse involved,” he says.
“It wasn’t just the Shaw Lane players affected, it was people on the pitch from Brighouse as well and everyone there.
“If you were there it is a night you’ll never forget.
“There were a lot of people there that night who witnessed things that they never want to witness at a football match.”
One thing is for sure, Shaw Lane may no longer exist but Dan’s memory and legacy burns as strong if not more stronger than it did in 2016.
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