Life of "fitba daft" youngster Stuart Begg celebrated at Keith memorial tournament
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ONE year ago, locals in Keith were left in shock when a car crash on the A96 claimed the life of a "fitba daft" former Keith Grammar School student.
Stuart Begg was just 18 years old when he was sadly pronounced dead at the scene of the crash outside Keith.
However, on Sunday, nearly one year to the day of Stuart's tragic passing, around 300 people turned out to celebrate his life at a memorial football tournament at Simpson Park.
Amanda Begg, Stuart's sister, organised the tournament and was blown away by the turnout on the day.
"It's more than I expected but it just shows how much he was loved," Amanda said.
"I want to remember him for who he was and not what happened to him.
"He absolutely loved his football so that's why it's at the centre of everything. I just know that he would have been absolutely chuffed with this.
"It was stressful organising this in the sense that you never think you're going to be organising something for somebody who should still be here.
"Realising that it's been a whole year was challenging but it's all been worth it and I'm sure he would have been proud."
As well as honouring Stuart's memory, the tournament took in donations to be split evenly between Keith and District Sports Development, where Stuart got started with football, and Rrrrallye which promotes road awareness among young people.
"We've taken in a lot of donations and the raffle has been really successful," Amanda added.
"It has just been amazing. It's a really nice way to mark the year and seeing everyone giving up their time for this has been heart warming. He was a really outgoing person. Really bubbly, really funny and I'm sure this is how he would like to be remembered. He wouldn't want everyone sitting inside crying."
Teams from across the north-east took part in the tournament including Stuart's former sides Deveronvale Colts, Macduff and Turriff.
Following Stuart's death last year, the footballing community joined together to support Amanda and her family. That saw Macuff retire the number 24, the number Stuart had worn for the team, setting up a bench in his memory in Turriff and wearing their respective kits to his funeral.
However, his loss is still being felt today among his former team mates and coaches.
Malky Smith coached Stuart for Deveronvale Colts and returned to take the side again in honour of him on Sunday. He was also a pallbearer at Stuart's funeral adding that it was an "honour" to be asked by the family to be one.
"Stuart could be cheeky but he was just a really good kid," Malky said.
"We were just devastated with what happened to him but we're all here because of him.
"Some of the Deveronvale Colts team have moved on to play elsewhere but they returned today for him.
"The amount of people that have come along is testament to him.
"He's just a massive loss. We're still feeling it one year later."
Mitchell Allan played alongside Stuart at Deveronvale Colts and captained the side. He also returned on Sunday to honour his former team mate and good friend.
"We just couldn't believe it when we heard the news last year," he said.
"He was a big character. You'd hear him before you saw him but we all loved that about him.
"He was exactly the same on the pitch as he was off it. He picked up a few red cards in his time but that was just his passion for the game.
"He just would have loved this. If he could have chosen how to be remembered this would probably have been it."
