A dedicated Charlton Athletic fan who played a key role in the campaign to oust the club’s eccentric Belgian owner will be commemorated with a quiz night at his local pub.
Dave Thomson, whose Drinking During The Game blog chronicled the Addicks’ ups and downs for 16 years, died in November from cancer.
He lived just a stone’s throw from The Valley, meaning he was able to help with the stunts that highlighted the club’s woes under the ownership of Roland Duchâtelet between 2014 and 2020, including when 13 supporters travelled with a black cab decorated with the slogan “taxi for Roland” to Sint-Truiden, Duchâtelet’s home town east of Brussels, to wish him a happy 70th birthday.
Duchâtelet sold up in 2020 — to a consortium which almost forced the club into administration — but still owns both The Valley and Sparrows Lane.
The quiz night, which will be held at the Royal Oak on Charlton Lane on Thursday March 7 from 7pm, will raise funds for the Charlton Park Riding for the Disabled Association, a cause close to his heart. In 2016 a sale of protest shirts for the anti-Duchâtelet campaign raised £3,500 for the charity.
Thomson’s last blog post, published on November 6, which lamented the decline of the club under a succession of owners, was entitled “the ritual humiliation of this club has to be stopped”.
Paul Breen, the quizmaster, said the night would be “celebration of Dave’s legacy in the community” and would celebrate him, the Addicks and his Scottish heritage. “We hope to have a few surprises on the night,” he added.
Tickets will be £5 per player on the night, with a maximum of five players per team.