Perth Glory FC will kick-off Wednesday night’s pre-season match against Cockburn City on a sombre note, after the tragic passing of Esad Djulbic- the father of centre-back Dino.
Esad lost his long battle with melanoma cancer at the weekend and the practice match will be held in honour of the 62-year old father of two.
Dino Djulbic won’t take part in the game but his teammates will wear black armbands as a tribute to Esad.
“We’re all pretty gutted to be truthful. Dino and I are pretty close on and off the field and we are just so numb right now” said Michael Thwaite.
“I know he’ll be taking this pretty hard, he was very close to his dad…they had a special bond” Thwaite added.Â
It was his father’s cancer battle that forced Djulbic to return to Perth from the United Arab Emirates last year so he could be closer to his mentor.
Both, Dino and Esad campaigned strongly about melanoma awareness and they even took out time to share their story on Channel 7’s Today Tonight earlier this year.
At the time Esad Djulbic was on the road to recovery but in recent months the cancer returned.
The match against Cockburn will be played at Dalmatinac Park in Spearwood.
A minute silence will be held before kick-off which is scheduled at 6.30pm.
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