Obituary: Steve Powell
From the official FSA.Org website:
It was with sadness this weekend that we learnt of the death of Steve Powell – longtime supporter activist and friend of the FSA. Born in 1956, Arsenal fan Steve was a former staff member for the Football Supporters’ Federation (one of our predecessor organisations) and founder-member of Arsenal Independent Supporters’ Association (AISA).
Here FSA chair Malcolm Clarke pays tribute to Steve and his decades of work on behalf of football supporters…
Steve worked for the FSF, as was, as development Officer and he was also on the board of Supporters Direct and its vice chair for a number of years, – while also being heavily involved with the Arsenal Independent Supporters’ Organisation, Arsenal Supporters Trust and other football organisations.
He was also a keen supporter of Wales. He had friends and contacts all over the world, particularly in South America, and loved watching football in different countries and cultures.
He was very knowledgeable about football world-wide and also other sports as well. To take just one small example I remember him educating us about what we could learn from the regulation of Australian Rugby league.
He was of course a regular attendee at our annual conferences and used to make the self-deprecating comment that no conference was complete “until the fat gooner has ranted”.
He was a very effective orator, and an experienced negotiator, having been a full-time trade union official in his younger days.
I particularly remember his great contribution to the “Accord” between the Wimbledon supporters and Milton Keynes Dons FC, which resulted in the return of all the historical records of Wimbledon FC to Merton, including the replica FA Cup, in return for lifting of boycotts.
Steve and I spent a day shuttling between the parties, when his skills as both a drafter of documents of agreements and a mediator were used to great effect.
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