Vasilios Nikolopoulos 25 December 1972 - 11 March 2006 |
|||
 |
|||
We never could get the exact date Bill Nikolopoulos first came down to Gaelic training. It was a Sunday evening though. The middle of 2004. The Singapore Gaelic Lions would never be the same again. He hadn’t even seen the game before, let alone played. But Bill didn’t see this as a problem. A team game is a team game. There’s not a lot to it. Get stuck in, give it absolutely everything you’ve got, no regrets, and put yourself on the line for your team mates. The rules for sport, or the rules for life? Bill applied them for both. He started that game “lar na pairce”, smack in midfield, jumping for the throw-in. He knew his way round the pitch, instinctively. He knew how to give the big hits — and he loved giving them — but he knew how to take them as well. Bill made the whole thing look far too easy. Simply put: an athlete, a natural. And that’s where he remained, right in the centre, of the team and the club. The photos below capture some of what Bill was all about, but can never really do full justice to the man, our team-mate and friend. They’ll never fully show that steely look on his face five minutes before throw-in, the one team-mates came to love as much as opponents came to fear. There’s none of him demonstrating Greco-Roman wrestling skills on hapless Lions in the Dubliner, winding up for the inevitable call to arms — bang! — or ordering another round of sit-ups at training. They’ll never ever fully capture that mischievous glint behind the smile when you caught his gaze across the heads in a crowded room. And that’s the Bill we’ll never ever ever forget. Méala mór a bháis
dá chairde go léir anseo. Beidh muid ag smaoineamh air go
deo le grá is le athais. Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam dílis. |
|||
 |
 |
||
 |
  |
||
 |
 |
||
 |
 |
||
|
|
|||
|
|||
|
|||
|
|||
 |
 |
||
 |
 |
||
 |
 |
||
| Your Tributes to Bill: | |||
| Bill.....
None could ever forget your kindness, your smile, your sense of humor, your lovely face, you...
I will never ever forget you overflowing our glasses with water, beer, or anything drinkable and putting in our plates all the "feta"...
I'll never forget the last time I saw you in
Athens on 2004 and our last walk at
"monastiraki" with me having the biggest
cockroach walking on my shoulder...
I feel very lucky for being your cousin...
I'll never forget you cause i don't believe you're
gone, you're always around making jokes,
laughing, and telling me "ta mallia sou myrizoun
louloudia" (greeklish)... -Helen | |||
| Still there in my heart each and every day. Such great times together that i can now appreciate you had a goal in life that had to be achieved in such a short time. Life was fast for you and you made me appreciate each and every breath i breathed. So happy we met but so sad you left. Life will always be different now but you live on in memory and spirit for me and many more. Continue to do your great wonders as you always have and keep up your little suprises as you always did. Be together some day where we can laugh all over again!! -Soph | |||
Please feel free to leave you own tributes to the great man here If you have any more photos that you would like to submit, please contact the club secretary |
|||
Singapore Gaelic Lions are proudly sponsored by:
|
|||||
| |
|||||
| Site Best viewed at 1024 x 768 resolution | |||||
| (C) Singapore Gaelic Lions Football Club 2010 | |||||
