This weekend, Perth Glory team up with DT38 for their annual fixture honouring late Australian striker Dylan Tombides, a Perth product who played for Premier League outfit West Ham before he tragically passed away from testicular cancer.
In West Ham United’s 129-year history, the club have retired just two kit numbers.
The first was the number six worn by Bobby Moore, West Ham captain of 10 years, and captain of England’s only FIFA Men’s World Cup winning side in 1966.
The second was the number 38 worn by Australian Dylan Tombides.
The Perth-born striker and Australian youth international was on course for a bright future in football when he tragically lost his life at the age of 20 due to testicular cancer.
West Ham retired Tombides’ kit number after his passing, and named an education centre at the club’s academy in his memory.
The legacy of a young man lost far too soon lives on both abroad and at home; this weekend marks the designated DT38 Matchday on Perth Glory’s Isuzu UTE A-League calendar, partnering with the charity formed in Tombides’ memory.
Ahead of a special commemoration of one of Western Australia’s most promising football products, and a life cut tragically short by testicular cancer, aleagues.com.au explains how the partnership is set to make Perth Glory’s clash with Brisbane Roar on Saturday night an occasion like no other in the Isuzu UTE A-League season.
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Dylan Tombides was 17 years old when he first felt an irregular lump in his testicle.
It was 2011, and Tombides was already signed to West Ham United and enhancing his reputation as a bright young talent to watch in the future.
Tombides saw a GP who informed him the lump was only a cyst. It was a misdiagnosis.
Months after his first GP consultation, a random drug test at the end of Australia’s Under-17 World Cup campaign in Mexico resulted in the discovery of a tumour, and then came the confirmation of testicular cancer.
Three years later, cancer cost Tombides his life at just 20 years of age in April, 2014.
In the aftermath of her son’s passing, Tracy Tombides lamented the fact that the family’s lack of education on testicular cancer contributed to Dylan’s late diagnosis.
“It breaks our heart to think that this could have been prevented,” she said.
“If we had known about testicular cancer and what we needed to do to catch it early, we would have insisted on an ultrasound when we went to the GP.”
The harrowing thought of ‘what if’ was the inspiration Tracy Tombides needed to establish DT38, and a five-word message every young man should hear:
Delay is deadly, get educated.
This weekend’s clash between Perth Glory and Brisbane Roar sees a continuation of a partnership between the club and charity that has stretched through the years.
The annual DT38 Matchday is a highlight on Glory’s Isuzu UTE A-League calendar and this season is no different.
DT38 shirts will be worn by the child mascots accompanying both starting XIs out onto HBF Park pre-game. The same shirts will be worn by the captains of both Perth and Brisbane for the walk out onto the pitch.
At the 38-minute mark of the first half, an image of Tombides will feature on the big screen as the HBF Park crowd will partake in a minute’s applause in his memory.
Each matchday activation is designed to create awareness for DT38 in the hope that more males become familiar with the charity’s message: to regularly check their testicles, and not to delay visiting their GP – as it could be the difference between life and death.
Get your tickets to Perth Glory v Brisbane today to be part of Saturday’s special commemoration of Dylan Tombides – and if you’re not in Perth, click here to read up on DT38 and how to help yourself and your loved ones avoid delay in treatment of testicular cancer, as well as gaining the confidence to take mental health matters seriously via educational programs.
