The world of soccer on the Sunshine Coast has lost a valuable player. Coach Ian Dixon suddenly and unexpectedly died on Oct. 14, leaving behind his wife Cassy Starrs, their three sons, Anthony, Nick, and Aaron, daughter-in-law Lisa and two grandchildren.
Tina Joe, a close friend, distant relative and soccer player on the Renegades – one of the teams Dixon coached and helped to establish – has started a gofundme.com campaign to raise money and help Dixon’s family cope through this devastating period in their lives.
“His death was really sudden. He wasn’t sick or anything,” Joe said. “No one was expecting it. He didn’t drink, he was a really healthy person – he jogged every day. He was a very healthy person.
“He was happy,” Joe said. “He was one of those people everybody liked. He took time to do anything for everybody. If some kids didn’t have money to go to a tournament in the summer – and his kids were going – he would take the extra kids.”
Dixon, 54, spent most of his adult life coaching soccer for many Coast leagues.
“He always took time to coach all the goalies and train all the goalies on all the teams. He never wore goalie gloves. He was such a strong person he refused to wear goalie gloves because he felt it was easier to stop the ball with bare skin,” Joe said. “His niece is our goalie now, and she won’t wear gloves either because that’s how she was trained.”
Joe passed on a story from Dixon’s wife Cassy.
“One time at a tournament he was playing in net and he broke his arm. He went to the hospital, got his arm put in a cast and then the next day came back and played the next game,” Joe relayed.
Dixon would go to the Renegades games when they were playing off-Coast to coach them and provide support. He also helped start the Wolves soccer team for the local men’s league. Dixon’s family comes from the Wolf Clan, which is where they got their name.
“He’s been coaching our local women’s team for over 10 years,” Joe said. “Probably the first eight years we had our team going, nobody wanted to coach us. Because it’s 20 headstrong Native women, and none of the guys wanted to coach us. So we just coached ourselves until Ian started, and he’s been coaching us ever since.
“Whenever one of us would get pregnant, and he found out – even though it was safe to play for a few more months – he wouldn’t let you play. If you got hurt, he wouldn’t let you play,” Joe said. “As soon as you had your baby and you were OK to play, he would hold your baby on the sidelines so you could go out and play. So he was always walking down the side of the field with babies. Not many men would do that.”
Joe’s gofundme.com campaign has raised more than $1,600 from 32 people in the first five days. Her goal is to raise $2,500. The page can be found at www.gofundme.com/iandixon
