The family of Hendon FC midfielder Ezekiel Williams have paid tribute to the 26-year-old, describing him as a devoted brother, a football coach to children, and a man whose faith and ambition were growing with every year.
Williams was seriously injured during an incident on Midsummer Boulevard in Milton Keynes in the early hours of Sunday, 1 November. He died in hospital the following day.
His sister, Shadore, said watching her brother grow older and take on new ambitions had been the best thing she could have witnessed.
“Seeing Ezekiel get older and gain different ambitions in life was the best thing I could have witnessed,” she said.
“He got to become a football coach and teach children who loved the same sport as he did.”
She said he had grown closer to God, and would get excited each time he got a new suit, showing it off to the family before going to church.
“He became closer to God and said he wanted to attend church and would get excited each time he got a new suit and would show it off to the family.”
Shadore described the closeness between them, and the conversations they shared every day after she came home from work.
“Sometimes, when I came back from work, we would talk about how our days went with the kids and he’d tell me all the positives (and negatives) and then we would both laugh about the situation and carry on with the day,” she said.
“We’d do it all again the next day, and the next, and so on.”
His brother, Omran, said Williams was extremely dedicated, and somewhat obsessive about detail and punctuality.
“Ezekiel was an extremely dedicated and somewhat obsessive kind of man when it came to detail and punctuality,” he said.
“As his older brother, I can vouch for the soft, yet very exclusive soft side as well as his competitive high spirited annoying side too.”
Omran said it brought him great joy and pride to see that some of his own teachings had become some of his brother’s core values.
“It brings me great joy and pride as his brother to see that some of my teachings became some of his core values, which led him evolving into the refined legend that his communities knew him for.”
Williams played for Hendon FC, based at Silver Jubilee Park in Kingsbury. His death was reported on 4 November, and a postmortem found he had died from a head injury.
Two men have been charged with murder over the incident. Sameull Hussein, 28, of no fixed abode, and Arman Uddin, 21, of Saxon Road, Luton, were charged on 5 November.
A third man, 30, from Luton, was arrested on suspicion of assisting an offender and has been released on conditional court bail.
