Chubby Honoured at Legends Day
A memorable day for everyone associated with CSKA, as players past and present showed up for the very first CSKA Legends Day. The day was created to honour the name of former CSKA Legend Richard “Chubby” Augustus, and to raise money for his family’s chosen charity – Crohn’s & Colitis UK.
61 players, including Chubby’s dad Phil Augutus, and his eldest son Theo who kicked off proceedings took to the field on the day. Each donning a throwback CSKA kit and the name and number of Chubby on the back.
The game began with CSKA OGs vs CSKA 2nd Gen lined up, and just like the old days, within minutes Luke Williamson found himself on the end of a lucky giveaway and slotted the ball past Ash Walker to give OGs the lead.
His joy was short lived however as the infamous Williamson scream echoed around the CSKA pitch, only this time it was an actual injury. A ruptured achilies cut his day short. Nonetheless, a fitting moment to see the club’s co-founder score the first goal in this game.
It didn’t take long for the teams to rediscover patterns and partnerships. And for most of it, it was all very familiar. Darran Tait was the best player on the pitch, Kieran Warner was talked into playing in goal, Jon Brice won everything, Chris McCafferty and Steve Maggs did everyone’s running, Mick McGuigan was linesman, Dave Line never looked like scoring, Paul “Bullet” Iliffe did all the talking and Andrew Phipps kept us entertained.
As the heat and the pitch dimensions took it’s toll on players, the changes were rang in. Including Perry Heathcote and Dave Ashford both in their 60s now looking very assured on the pitch.
The 2nd Gen team found an equaliser through a familiar source in Bav Gangajalia, before the OGs regained their lead when Brice scored a header from a corner.
The day was a resounding success, lots of football played, lots of friends and families of Chubby’s in attendance, and over £3,500 raised for charity.
We will very much be exploring the possibility of making this a recurring event given the positive feedback from all the former players.
It was amazing to see so many old friends, some of us hadn’t seen each other for 10+ years let alone played together.
This was a happy occasion, and very much one of my favourite days in the history of CSKA. And I guess I have Chubby to thank for that.
