Russ Budden
On Friday night, 150 Hammers crammed into the RUSSC club in Romford for an E13 Events hosted ex player night.
The theme for the evening was ‘Strikers’ with four legendary former strikers glittered with honours such as ECWC Cup winner Brian ‘Stag’ Dear, FA Cup winner David ‘Psycho’ Cross – alongside Boys of 86′ Tony Cottee and 92 promotion winner Trevor Morley (making a rare appearance as he lives in Norway!)
The evening was hosted by Tony Gale (‘Reg’) – and it was an absolute hoot, the differing ages of the strikers brought a new dynamic to such an evening – for example Psycho’s legendary stories were often curtailed by Morley chipping in with ‘not another story, David!’ Some great stories across the board from Stag’s stories about Mooro, Cottee’s stories about betting with McAvennie about who could score the most impressive goal, Morley and Gale bouncing off one another about that semi-final and an uneventful FA Cup tie with Farnborough. The best two stories of the night were provided by Psycho (who was prompted by Reg though!) – one involving getting Paul Allen to hold his hand when they shared a hotel room one away day and the other about a reserve goalkeeper with a driving test!
Also in attendance was David Cross’s daughter, England cricketeer Kate Cross – who shared a father and daughter chat with Ian from E13 Events in the interval – which was really interesting and heartfelt.
The internal was also a chance for Tracylee Tombides to talk about the great work DT38 do as well as publicise the white collar boxing event at York Hall next week and upcoming fundraising events.
The usual auctions and raffles were present – Irons Supporting Foodbanks John Ratomski won a lovely signed 1980 FA Cup shirt! Plenty of attendees looked a bit jaded as many were on the ‘red eye’ back from Bucharest!
The Q&A was great fun with Trevor Morley revealing that he could have been part of a multi-million potato business he set up with his mate when they were both released as youngsters – but Morley got back into football!
All in all, it was a cracking night – strikers part two is booked for next year with McAvennie, Hartson, Carlton Cole apparently already lined up – as well as events for Tony Carr and Alan Curbishley being mooted.
Check out E13 Events on all the socials for the latest news!
