‘Celebrating Roy’: Townsville stadium to host public memorial for Andrew Symonds

Late cricket legend Andrew “Roy” Symonds’ life will be celebrated at a public memorial in Townsville on Friday, May 27.

The service, titled Celebrating Roy, will be held at the Townsville Riverway Stadium from 2.30 pm to 4 pm, with all welcome and a dress code of “definitely no jacket and tie required”.

Five of Symond’s closest cricketing mates- Ian Healy, Adam Gilchrist, Jimmy Maher, Darren Lehmann, and Matthew Mott- will speak at the memorial, as will Symond’s favourite poet, Ruper McCall, who will recite a poem in honour of the life Symonds lived.

After the public memorial, the all-rounder’s family and friends will join together for a private funeral service.

Details of the memorial service come after weeks of tributes to the sporting legend, who died aged 46 in a tragic car crash on May 14.

Though Andrew Symonds longed to live a simple life, his cricket career was never straightforward. But few cricketers of his generation were as widely beloved as the man they called Roy.
Andrew Symonds brought Australia along for his brilliant, brutal but crushingly brief ride pic.twitter.com/H70BqNCkgM

— Heather Wood (@Heather01362344) May 24, 2022

His death follows that of close friend and teammate, Shane Warne, 52, who passed only two months prior to Symonds after suffering from a heart attack in Thailand.

It was recently revealed by Aussie Test legend Adam Gilchrist that the pair had plans to co-coach the London Spirits, a team in England’s new Hundred Ball cricket tournament, with Warne planning to shoulder Symonds’ pay just for his friend to join him in England.

“Warnie was doing that on his own accord and was going to pay Roy the wage that he was going to get for being over there and Roy couldn’t believe that,” Gilchrist told Triple M.

“That sense of friendship and mateship was everything that Roy built his whole life around, of trust and loyalty.”

Life is so unpredictable ????

Andrew Symonds RIP Shane Warne RIP pic.twitter.com/1e1Z7HJqlC

— Kumar Gyanesh (@kumargyanesh24) May 18, 2022

For those unable to travel to Townsville for the service, the Queensland Cricketers Club at the Gabba will open at 12 pm to feature a live showing of the memorial, with food and bar services available.

A private charter flight has also been organised and is available for bookings for those looking to attend the public service in person.

The plane is scheduled to depart from Brisbane on Friday morning, at 6 am, with a return flight back departing at midday, Saturday, May 29.

Symonds played a major role in Australia’s World Cup wins in 2003 and 2007. He played 26 test matches and 198 One Day Internationals.

Symonds is survived by his wife Laura and two children Chloe and Billy.