Roy Seddon 14/12/34 – 6/10/12
Wallingford Town FC Clubman of the Year 1986-87
Roy maintained a high profile in the Town of Wallingford and at one time stepped
in to manage Wallingford Town F.C. for a season, and coached the goalkeepers
- there was a tribute to him on their website. He was happy to be called upon
to referee the odd rugby match at Hithercroft Sports Centre - he was a skilled
coach of both football and rugby. Roy’s three main loves in life were
sport, education and family. He was skilful at all sports and, in the 1960s,
he played for Derry City F.C. and Northern Ireland as a left winger. He was
instrumental in Derry’s success as League Champions in 1964/65 and their
qualification for the European Cup. He also commentated on radio and for the
media. He was a PE teacher at Foyle College and is remembered fondly by both
students and staff. He moved into local government in 1974 taking on the role
as Principal Amenities Officer for Londonderry where he organised many major
sporting events. He also coached the US Navy ‘Touring F.C.’ during
1975/77. In 1984 Roy moved to Wallingford to take over as Sports & Recreation
Officer at SODC and managed its sports and leisure centres until his retirement.
During that time he successfully championed a ‘Fair Play Campaign’.
Roy won a Winston Churchill scholarship in the 1990s to study Australian Rugby
League as he considered the sport to be a leading example of fair play. He wrote
a report from that study and presented it to the Football League who, at the
time, denied they had any behavioural problems in football!
Source Credit: John Kohorn - Bolton School Magazine
Roy was born and grew up in Bolton, he was the only child of Fred and Lucy
Seddon, both gifted musicians. He attended Bolton school, something he was very
proud of and a time where his love of football and all sports developed. He
had many friends from these days that he’d kept in touch with and in fact,
his very good friend, John Kohorn and his wife Chris were to introduce Roy and
Theresa to their family in Prague, a friendship that blossomed over the last
20 years.
After his stint of National Service with the South Lancashire Regiment when
he became an enthusiastic boxer he went to college in Loughborough where he
met his future wife, Brigid, and they soon moved back to her home of N. Ireland
where they settled in Londonderry. He worked as the PE teacher of the boys grammar
school, Foyle college and it was during this time that he played for Derry City,
but not only did he play football to a European level he commentated and coached
football and also became a scout for Bolton Wanderers, a team he has always
supported. We have had a number of people that have contacted us recently to
say that he was a big inspiration to them and in some cases the biggest inspiration
of their lives, we have all been deeply moved as we have come to appreciate
the impact that Roy had in many people’s lives.
Roy was a linguist; he spoke fluent French which made family holidays to France
a lot of fun. He loved all music and could play the clarinet and guitar, always
up for a sing song at the many family parties that were had.
When he left teaching he went to college in Leeds for a year to study leisure
management which resulted in his new position of recreation officer of Londonderry,
this occasionally got him in to some tricky situations as it was during the
troubles but he handled these with excellent judgement, integrity and diplomacy.
Roy moved to Wallingford in 1984 to start work with SODC and typically got stuck
right in to passionately being involved with the Wallingford community which
went to the next level when he met Theresa, they worked together as a team and
he enjoyed being by her side for the 2 yrs. she was mayor.
During his time in Wallingford he was lucky enough to be awarded the scholarship
from the Winston Churchill Trust to report on one of his passions, fair play
in sport, this he chose to do in Rugby League in Australia.
He enjoyed his retirement, he was sociable, he loved barbeques, enjoyed his
six grandchildren, Dartmouth, his garden, watching all sports, his friends from
home and abroad. He loved Wallingford and had many devoted friends.