Kevin Durham Memorial Trophy
From the Oxford Times
"AARON Heap will be presented with the Kevin Durham Memorial Cup before Oxford United’s home game with Carlisle United tomorrow.
The award is for the U’s most promising schoolboy footballer.
The prize is named after the former U’s player, who died in 1991 on the eve of his first season as a professional with Barnet."
I have no memory of 'Durrers' playing for the PNL ? I know we signed him from Oxford City on the recommendation of John Maskell.
It seems unbeleivable that Kevin passed away nearly 25 years ago !! It was perhaps the one regret during Saint Martins
reign, was that the truly talented Durham could not be incorperated in his squad. Despite the emergence of Guppy and Carroll, their were few better sites than watching Durrers in full flight twisting and teasing defenders.
Comments
This is from the Barnet Onlybarnet.com forum. Looks like it was only at schools level.
When one remembers the closed season of 1991 it was one of excitement for the club and supporters as we had secured promotion to the Football League for the first time in May at Fisher Athletic. However we also lost the services of a very gifted and respected player in June of that year from the very illness that I have personally thankfully now been helped with – Kevin Durham.
Kevin and his family were holidaying in Majorca when he suffered a fatal heat attack. The whole of the football world was shocked that this could happen to a very fit full-time athlete. Manager Barry Fry was quoted as saying “Kevin played 48 games for us that season and was a very fit player. There was no indication of any sort of problem and his death came as a serious shock to us all. He was excellent company and the sort of player who always kept the dressing room happy. His death put a real dampener on out celebrations and put everything into perspective”
Kevin was born in Oxford April 6th 1962 and started his footballing career with Oxford Schools FA. He turned out for Abingdon Town and Pressed Steel in the Hellenic leagues before signing with Oxford City then managed by the legendary Bobby Moore with assistance from Harry Redknapp. He joined Wycombe Wanderers in August 1986 spending four seasons gaining promotion to the Conference, FA representative honours in 1989 and the admiration of the Chairboys supporters for his 100% commitment.
A long time target of Barry Fry, Barnet secured Kevin’s services in September 1990 for £15,000 – a snip! Many Wycombe fans were seething with anger at the time believing he was worth a lot more.
“Durrers” who normally operated in left midfield joined the club while they were in the middle of a fabulous run of form. September 1990 saw us win seven and lose just one game during the month including a 3-2 win over Kevin’s old club in front of a massive 4,579 attendance at Underhill. His first goal came almost immediately in a 3-0 win at Kidderminster and a week later he scored in the FA win against Clapton. The highlight of his Underhill career apart from being selected in the starting line up at Fisher Athletic in the promotion winning game was I believe officially scoring the winning goal at Northampton Town in the FA Cup 2nd round direct from a corner – the goal had been credited to Andy Clarke at one point and it seems that many Barnet players staked a claim on getting a touch!
At the end of the season with the Vauxhall Conference trophy safely in the boardroom Kevin realised a life long ambition and signed professional forms with the club. He was all set for a well-deserved summer holiday and a new stage of his career. Barry Fry said, “We hardly discussed terms because Kevin was so happy just to be a professional footballer”.
Former Barnet programme Editor and club aficionado the late Tony Holmes, who was very close to Kevin has said in one of his articles in a Bees programme – “Kevin was simply overjoyed when Barnet won promotion. When the final whistle went at Fisher, he flung his arms in the air and sunk to his knees and the look of exuberance on his face left no-one in any doubt exactly what it meant to him.”
The club awarded a well-attended benefit match to Kevin’s family in September 1991, the opposition? Wycombe Wanderers of course. In a further gesture towards him the newly built administrative and social club was renamed “The Durham Suite” in his memory.
Personally one of my favourite players ever in a Wycombe shirt.
One of my favourite players in my early years as a Wycombe fan. I was gutted when he left for Barnet, but he rather fell out of favour under O'Neill. A terrific player and a sad loss to football.
"Kevin and his family were holidaying in Majorca when he suffered a fatal heat attack"
This is so wrong fella. Kevin was like a brother to me. I grew up with him and our families are still very close to this day. He was on holiday in Spain with three of his footballing mates not his family. He actually died of a brain haemorrhage not a heart attack so please make sure your facts are correct before posting on a public forum.