Vale David Hoppitt

Photo:  David Hoppitt (third from left in back row) in a Clarence United squad in 2009. [PlessPix] 

The former Clarence United player and current Barnstoneworth player, David Hoppitt, has passed away in Hobart aged 38 after a long illness.

David recently made a return to football with Barnstoneworth and scored in one of their wins.

David lost his sibling, Andrew Hoppitt, who was a highly rated goalkeeper with University, in 2005 after a skydiving accident.

For a few years following that tragic loss, University and Clarence United competed for the Andrew Hoppitt Memorial Trophy whenever the two clubs met.

I remember David as a brave, fast and energetic player who was capable of scoring terrific goals as well as making goals for team-mates.

A look through my files of 2009 reveals some brief descriptions:

"Sloppy defending by Olympic four minutes from the end enabled Clarence to equalise.  The ball was given away on Olympic’s left flank and it was knocked into the middle, where David Hoppitt equalised with a marvellous right-foot volley that gave Plomaritis no chance as it flashed into his top left-hand corner of the net."

“Two minutes from the end, substitute Ben Phillips made the game safe when he hammered home David Hoppitt’s low cross from the right.”

“David Hoppitt made it 2-0 in the 67th minute, while a minute later, Eli Luttmer’s shot for Taroona flew just wide.”

David was a member of the Clarence United side that lost in the GCD Premier League Top-Five Finals Series Preliminary Final against Hobart Juventus at KGV Soccer Park on Friday, 23 September 2005.

David’s father, Glenn Hoppitt, was the Chief Financial Officer for Soccer Tasmania at about the turn of the century.

My condolences go to David’s wife, Alyce, and their children, and to his parents.

I know he will be remembered fondly by team-mates and all who knew him both on and off the field.