Tony Kempster

Tony Kempster's staggeringly illuminating website has been one of my favourite links since way before Chicago Addick began life. If you have never looked through it, then you have never lived. Every single fixture, result, attendance and table can be found all the way down through the English, Scottish and Welsh pyramids of association football including the Channel Islands. Maps and intricate details of promotion and relegations from every league allow me and other football anoraks the world over to wallow in trivia, intelligence and data, particularly on non-league football for absolute hours. The site is frankly genius.

Sadly I was wading through there the other day and only noticed for the first time the banner running across the top of the home page saying "Due to my deteriorating health, this site will be frozen at the end of the 08/09 season."

I had read elsewhere that Tony was diagnosed with cancer last year but was responding well to treatment, but it now appears sadly that this football website luminary is rapidly succumbing to this awful disease. His latest post on his blog says simply "as I expected, the tumour on my liver has shown significant growth. It is now deteriorating quite quickly and the consultant told me that it is very unlikely that I will survive into 2010. In fact, it will probably be sooner than that."

Shocking news for a man not yet 60-years old. I hope he is surrounded by people that he loves and is living his life to the full. And I hope he is very, very proud of what he has achieved and the pleasure he has given football lovers everywhere. My thoughts go out to him and his family.