The football community in Antigua is in mourning today over the death of Jamaican football player Dashawn Stanton on Wednesday night.
The 25-year-old Stanton, also known as Taka, was a midfielder, who for the past three seasons played with Drahz Old Road FC in the Antigua and Barbuda Football Association (ABFA) Premier League.
According to reports, he was suffering from encephalitis and had fallen into coma days before he died at the Mount St John’s Medical Centre about 9:30 pm.
The members of the club’s executive are in shock. Sportsmax.TV was told that at team training this morning, members of the club – still in a state of disbelief- shared their memories of him and the player that he was.
They described him as being very quiet, a player who listened to instruction and who was very disciplined on and off the field.
“He always had his shirt in his pants and that was how people would identify who he was. He was also an intelligent player,” said Zita Edwards, the club’s general secretary.
Chesley Browne, Assistant Coach at Old Road, said Stanton was the player every coach wanted to have on his team.
“He was an exceptional midfield player. He was an outstanding player, a ball winner. He was very committed and left everything on the field and he didn’t like to lose,” he said.
During his time in Antigua, Stanton also played for the Villa Lions FC and Green Bay Hoppers. Hoppers’ General Secretary Troy Gibson had fond memories of him.
“He was a very good youth,” Gibson told Sportsmax.TV this morning.
Stanton, who also played for Tivoli Gardens FC in Jamaica, fell ill on August 14 when he began to suffer from severe headaches. He had a fever and he began to vomit repeatedly. His vitals had also begun to fall.
Subsequent tests indicated that he was suffering from an infection around his brain, which doctors believed caused some brain damage. About a week later, he fell into a coma and was put on a ventilator.
He remained unresponsive and eventually died on Wednesday.
“The entire football community is heavily impacted by his death,” Gibson said.
According to reports, his family is trying to raise funds to fly his body back to Jamaica for burial.