Lifelong fan, historian and secretary passes away

Cheshunt are mourning the passing of Alex Kalinic, a lifelong fan and the Ryman North club's historian and secretary.

An Ambers fan since his school days in the 1970s, the father-of-two, pictured, was 57 and had been battling cancer since 2012.

The club stalwart was well known throughout the Ryman League and to a wider audience through the match reports he wrote for The Non-League Paper on Saturdays. He was appointed as Ambers secretary in 2009 and officials at Theobalds Lane said they were saddened to learn of his death on Wednesday.

In a tribute posted on their official website, Jim Tuite, the club's programme editor from 2002 to 2009, wrote: "He was a supporter first, never happier than seeing the Ambers put one over on Ware or Enfield, or being able to say a certain player was reaching a statistical milestone and should be rewarded in some way.

"As the club secretary - a role he was made for and carried out with the attention to detail - and inability to suffer fools - that were his trademark.

"As a secretary he was faultless, carrying out this thankless and often dull role with ease. I have often said the only time you notice what the secretary does is when he makes a mistake ...and so for the six years Alex was the secretary nobody noticed!

"But his real legacy to Cheshunt are his club records. Thanks to him, the club went from having no archive, no statistics and no documented history to one with records so well maintained that they would rival any club, big or small, in the world.

"Finally, my thoughts at this time are with his wife Linda, his son William and his daughter Jessica as he loved his family dearly. Words like 'irreplaceable' get used casually in football, but Alex Kalinic really was."

To read the full tribute on the Ambers website click on the following link:
Alex Kalinic tribute .

Follow us: @rymanleaguenews on Twitter | Ryman League group on Facebook