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www.red11.org DAILY NEWS
Date: Sun Mar 07 04:46:02 GMT+00:00 1999
Mail: barry@www.red11.org

This Issue:
1. Dennis Viollet

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Barry Daily Comment:

Todays Daily News is in memory of Dennis Viollet who passed away 
yesterday 3pm local time Saturday 6th March.

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Portrait from Dec 1996


Subject: Dennis Viollet

A few days ago Helen Viollet phoned me to say that Dennis had gone into
hospital. He had been admitted into intensive care and put on life support.
She asked me not to let anyone else know at that time because she didn't
want to tempt a round of tabloid stories sensationalising Dennis' plight.

The day before he had to be admitted to hospital Helen had taken him out to
St. Augustine. She drove him around rather than pushing him as Dennis hated
to be seen in the wheelchair.

He hadn't been very responsive the last few times he had been taken out as
his condition had deteriorated, but this time was different.

She commandeered the help of one of his physios, an ex football player of
about six foot four or five and they drove him the short distance to the
old Spanish town.

St Augustine is a beautiful place, one of those special places you get to
visit every now and then. It is stacked full of history. You can be sitting
by a trickling fountain under the fronds of a swaying palm in an ornate
Spanish courtyard and dream yourself back in time.

The day Dennis was driven to St Augustine he didn't fall asleep as he
usually would. His eyes were wide open and staring as he took in everything
around him.

They didn't stay long, but long enough. And when they returned home to
their home in Jacksonville Dennis was helped from the car by the ex
football player, but before he was seated back in his wheelchair he was
stood up by an interior wall.

And then something remarkable happened. He stood bolt upright by himself,
then very slowly but deliberately he moved that famous right foot of his
and took a single step forward. It was something he hadn't done for some
considerable time.

Once seated again in his wheelchair you could detect a look of satisfaction
on his face. When he was asked whether he had enjoyed his day out he smiled
and murmured as best he could to indicate that he had. His reaction left
them in no doubt that he had.

It turned a nice day into a very special day.

There are moments in a life that are memorable for a multitude of reasons.
Dennis' life had always been concerned with football whether it was playing
or coaching, but that day in St. Augustine and the brief aftermath was
every bit as good as an injury time winner.

At 3pm local time on Saturday 6th March Dennis passed away.

His memory will linger in the minds of those of us who were privileged
enough to watch him play. I will always remember his power and grace and
his ability to be in the right place at the right time - the hallmark of a
good striker.

That day in St Augustine was the right place at the right time. He could
well have been on his way into the opposition box latching on to a knock
down from Tommy and gracefully encouraging the ball into the back of the
net. Turning away to take the adulation of his team-mates with just a hint
of a smile would be his celebration.

The smile was the same, the circumstances different.

Dennis was a man who played life as he played football, with as little fuss
as possible, but he played it very effectively. Remember him as one of our
own.

Paul Windridge
Portrait from Dec 1996