Thirteen weeks after Derry and Ballinderry Gaelic footballer, Aaron Devlin, lost his life to meningitis his family has unveiled a legacy jersey to ‘keep his memory alive’
And you can buy one of the commemorative jerseys and help in our fight back against meningitis at the same time, with all profits coming to us to help in our lifesaving and life-changing work.
The jersey, designed by Aaron’s family and friends after he passed away in July 2015, just days after contracting the deadly disease, is already proving popular, with the family saying they have been overwhelmed by the public response.
Our founder, Steve Dayman went along to the launch of the jersey, held at Ballinderry Shamrocks.
“We’re really grateful to the club for all they are proposing to do in memory of Aaron. I’d just like to thank the whole wider community too for the support they have given the family and will hopefully continue to.”
Steve Dayman MBE
Aaron’s brother Coilin said he and the family never envisaged the jersey would be so popular.
Overwhelming response
The jersey is ‘poignant’ for the family as it features a number of reminders of Aaron.
“The instant response was overwhelming because we were expecting to sell two or three hundred jerseys maximum and now, even if you go by the rough demand, I wouldn’t be surprised if we are talking 1,500 or 2,000.”
“The faded shamrock is for the Ballinderry connection and the number 23, which was his age, because one of the main photographs that went around at the time Aaron took sick was one of him after they won the Ulster final and he was wearing the number 23 that day."
“We also have #Azza on this jersey – that was his nickname. On the sleeve we have the wording ‘kinda a big deal’. That was Aaron in a nutshell – it was his Twitter bio."
“For anybody that didn’t know him, when you look at the jersey and read that statement it tells you what kind of a character he was.”
The shirt is available in a range of sizes – you can find out more and order yours here
