CARL COUZENS FUND DONATIONS EARMARKED
FOR PIONEERING ASTHMA RESEARCH

The Imperial College London has just announced that all donations made in memory of referee Carl Couzens are to be used in key front line research into finding better treatments for chronic asthma, the condition from which Carl succumbed just three weeks short of his 37^th birthday. 

In a letter to the Association, the College’s Professor of Respiratory Medicine, Mr Fan Chung, says the fund total of £3,525 is to be spent on research relating to the airway smooth muscle cell which is abnormal in asthmatics. This was unfortunately the affliction which Carl suffered from and he underwent an experimental treatment called bronchial thermoplasty in an effort to remove airway smooth muscle cells from the lungs.

In his letter which has also been sent to Carl’s mother Anita, Professor Chung says:

“I would like to thank all Carl’s referee colleagues and other sporting friends who donated so generously. I am sure that Carl himself would have been pleased to see this type of research done into asthma … research that could lead to new and better treatments.”

The Professor also asked for his personal thanks to be conveyed to Peter Hazel for his initiative in producing the Bonus Ball game which brought in an additional sum of £395.

Well done everyone who contributed! The Imperial College is very grateful for all our members’ efforts.

And this year, we are introducing a new trophy in the form of a Claret Jug (denoting Carl’s love of golf) which will be presented for the first time to the Association’s Referee of the Year at the AGM in May.

Bill Hamilton

14 March 2009