Five years on Friday

[Reg Niseth]

since Arsenal legend, Dainton "The Bear", was tragically killed in Moscow.

RIP - Never Forgotten

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T0vE0UCv ... re=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LG5fCtba ... re=related

[QuartzGooner]

R.I.P

[BournemouthRED]

RIP the bear

[flash gunner]

R.I.P.

Cant believe its 5 years already

[Top Londoner]

Never met the bloke, but I have heard of him

I spent a while reading the tributes on the youtube links. A well loved chap it appears.

Respect to him and his family/mates.

RIP

[OneBardGooner]

I really don't know where the time has gone.

R.I.P

[REB]

rip the bear.

[Cockerill's chin]

R.I.P

[StuartL]

since Arsenal legend, Dainton "The Bear", was tragically killed in Moscow.

RIP - Never Forgotten

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T0vE0UCv ... re=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LG5fCtba ... re=related

R.I.P to the Bear.

Wasn't the champions league final going to be in Moscow that year, so our "on our way" chant was turned into a we're off to Moscow to see the bear" tribute.

[storrmin571]

RIP

[DarylAFC]

RIP

[Barriecuda]

Anyone want to put together a little primer of Denton for the younger/foreign fans?

Don't know a great deal about him, other than as leader of one of the firms in the 80s and his untimely death in 07. Recall from this thread last year that he was a great guy to those who knew him.

[QuartzGooner]

BarrieCuda

Well I think Reg Niseth or Herd are best placed to say things about Dainton/Denton.

I only met him twice both times very briefly, but from what I know he was one of the major faces (British slang word broadly equivalent to "Stand Up Guy") throughout all of the clubs in the country and would put himself on the line to look after Gooners who were being attacked by other fans.

I remember him late 80's at Chelsea away when he had nicked a Chelsea hat off someone and was mucking around on the tube.
Another time I met him in a box at the new stadium, quite a contrast to the setting 20 years earlier.
He ran a luggage shop and worked as a bodyguard for the Pet Shop Boys, one of whom is a Gooner.

[Herd]

WHHHHHHHHHHHOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAA

[Reg Niseth]

WHHHHHHHHHHHOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAA

indeed Mr H. Shall be raising a glass or three tonight with other likeminded.

D was the born in the same year as me and married the same year also. There are many anecdotes about The Bear from football to mixing with the stars through his work. But one of the main things over The Arsenal was in the late 70s the far right were infiltrating football. Chelsea and Leeds being the worst. But over The Arsenal we didn't tolerate this kind of thing. Because of the areas we lived in, black and white youths were mates. We liked the same music, clothes, clubs etc. We were all colour blind.

Arsenal still had their share of racists but on more than one occasion the lads from the NF were chased from the Gillespie Road when they tried to sell copies of Bulldog. After a while they never came back. Black fans were not intimidated when the came over The Arsenal and this filtered down to kids playing football such as Rocky, Thomas, Davis, and countless others. They would choose Arsenal over the likes of Chelsea. Read Paul Canonville's biog about his time at Chelsea and you'll understand the difference.

It could be argued this is the reason we have such a diverse cultural mix. But that's for others to discuss.

At his funeral, which closed HR and was attended by over 4000 people including footballers, reprsentatives from the club and stars of stage and screen and lads from other firms, tributes were read out from around the world. The Pet Shop Boys played a gig in Bucharest a few weeks after he'd died and during "Being Boring" they played a video montage of The Bear. It's on utube.

He protected vulnerable fans and was recognised by everyone but he would often call people moo moos. I hope I've gone someway to explain about D. Herd will have far better stories than me.