![\"Stuart](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/e2633558-7c51-4c8e-af5d-19a213e7f265.jpg\")
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Stuart Griffin. Photo: Gertrude Star Flute Band\/Facebook<\/p>\n
A Co Down football club has paid tribute after the sudden death of one of its players.<\/p>\n
Stuart Griffin, who was in his 40s and from Bangor, passed away earlier this week.<\/p>\n
He was well known within the local bands scene.<\/p>\n
He also played for the second XI of Bangor Amateur FC.<\/p>\n
The club said its members had been left \u201cdeeply saddened and shocked\u201d by his \u201cuntimely and sudden passing\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was someone who wore his heart on his sleeve and stood by the club through both the good times and the bad,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n
\u201cStuarty was well liked, but more importantly, very much respected within the club.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was always there to offer help, advice and support to younger players, as well as to the club hierarchy.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo Stuarty, age was just a number. He constantly pushed the younger lads for a starting position, showing incredible determination and pride every time he pulled on the shirt. He was immensely proud to represent the club.<\/p>\n
\u201cStuarty over recent years was a key part of our second team, and as a mark of respect and to allow players time to come to terms with this loss, today\u2019s game against Woodvale FC has been postponed.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Stuart Griffin. Photo: Gertrude Star Flute Band\/Facebook<\/p>\n
Watch: Campaigners hope to save iconic beam of the tallest lighthouse in Northern Ireland<\/p>\n
Tributes were also paid by Mr Griffin\u2019s former band, Gertrude Star Flute Band.<\/p>\n
It said: \u201cIt is down to him paving the foundations to where the band is today.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf not for his leadership, guidance and direction who knows what way the band would have gone.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Stuart Griffin. Photo: Gertrude Star Flute Band\/Facebook A Co Down football club has paid tribute after the sudden…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":672448,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5011],"tags":[1999,1384,1144,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-672447","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-northern-ireland","8":"tag-adrian-rutherford","9":"tag-down-news","10":"tag-northern-ireland","11":"tag-uk","12":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115834607861675994","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/672447","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=672447"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/672447\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/672448"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=672447"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=672447"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=672447"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}