More than 50 former players will line up to play a special tribute game for Taradale’s David Greene who has been the club’s first team manager for 37 consecutive seasons.
Two large squads and a healthy standby roster will ensure the match will showcase the talents of former Taradale players whose collective appearances for the club approach 5,000 games.
The match, on Saturday January 13, 2024, will feature players selected by Greene from Central League and Federation League teams from the late 1980s to recent seasons.
Greene (54) has been battling a brain tumour, discovered in 2021, and has had surgery, radiation and chemotherapy treatment, and for the past two years, has been receiving an anti-angiogenic therapy, called Avastin, which is not funded by the health care system.
Friends and supporters of the Taradale club have raised almost $40,000 through a givealittle page to help Greene pay for the Avastin, which costs $9,000 per treatment.
The fundraising page says of Greene: “He epitomises everything Taradale AFC is all about. David doesn’t have any brothers, sisters or children playing at the club but is considered family by us all.”
Taradale’s Dan Ball said: “Greenie is an incredibly selfless man and it’d be great to give back to someone who has given so much to others.”
The tribute match will be staged at Napier’s Bledisloe Park, followed by an aftermatch function at the Taradale Sports Associaton from 3pm.
On the eve of the match, a Friday “whiteboard session” will be held at The Horse & Harvest, with live music from 7pm.
Fixture
Game to be played on Saturday January 13, 2024
David Greene XI v David Greene XI
Bledisloe Park, Napier, 1pm
The squads
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