“I messaged Ezekiel because we had a midweek cup game and I wanted to check he was still available,” says Adam Fisher – manager of non-league Hendon.
“There was no reply. Then I found out what had happened.”
Ezekiel Williams died in hospital on 2 November from head injuries after an incident in Milton Keynes. He was 26.
Two men have been charged with murder.
Known to friends as ‘Zekes’ and ‘Eze’, Williams was well known in non-league circles having played for clubs including Hastings United, Kettering Town and St Ives Town.
A midfielder, he joined Hendon in September and had already established himself at his new club as a “humble, unassuming and generous individual with razor-sharp wit”.
His death has devastated the part-time club based in Kingsbury, north-west London.
“Nothing prepares you for something like this,” Hendon’s chairman Cyrus Cooper tells BBC Sport. “We’re all human beings and the club is struggling to come to terms with what has happened.”
Hendon, who play in the Isthmian League South Central Division – the eighth tier of English football, have not played since Williams died, as players and staff mourn the loss of a popular player.
On Saturday, 12 days after his death, they return to action at Bedfont Sports.
“Saturday is going to be so hard because Eze is going to be on our minds and what happened to him,” Hendon midfielder Tashae Andall-Gibbons tells BBC Sport.
“Everyone is distraught. Eze was only 26 and had his whole life ahead of him.”
Cooper says: “It’s going to be the first time the players put their kit on without Ezekiel being there.
“I think there are going to be a lot of tears. It’s going to be an emotional day for everyone associated with Hendon Football Club.”
Leave a Reply