On Saturday, Charlton Athletic remembers and celebrates Pierre Bolangi on the 25th anniversary of his tragic passing.
On August 9th, 2000, the promising 17-year-old left-back was part of the club’s U18s’ pre-season training camp in Aldershot when he got into difficulty and drowned during an army training exercise.
In recent years, close friends and family members have set up 3P3 The Legacy to remember Pierre and to create opportunities for young people in the Canning Town area, where Pierre was from, and further afield.
3P3 The Legacy was set up by Pierre’s sister Angelique and close friends Rob and Tony, and the trio have been working with the club around a number of activities outside and inside the stadium around Saturday's game to tell Pierre’s story and support the growth of 3P3 The Legacy.
Supporters can head to Valley Central from 10am to meet the 3P3 The Legacy team, find out more and donate.
"We work in our local community to spread awareness about what happened to Pierre," Rob explained. "We want to support kids who came from the same background as Pierre to give them opportunities moving forwards. This could be helping them with things like challenges at home, mental health and supporting integration.
"We want to give back to the youth as Pierre died as a youth and didn’t get to fulfil his potential as a footballer, so we want to help young people fulfil their potential, whether it be football, whether it be educational, we want to give them the opportunity to try and fulfil that."
The group have also begun outreach to local schools and have a football initiative where a team of U16s get the opportunity to take on a Charlton academy team.
"It’s important to say how important Charlton was for Pierre," said Tony. "He loved Charlton. He literally put his life on the line for Charlton. His love of Charlton is like the love so many fans feel for the club."
Other activities with the club include the annual Pierre Bolangi Award, which is given to an U18s player who has demonstrated Pierre's characteristics of resilience, leadership, optimism and compassion.
Rob added: "We want to make sure that Pierre’s legacy lasts forever, so the more people that get involved, young and old, the better."
For more information and to donate to 3P3 The Legacy visit 3P3TheLegacy.org and follow 3P3TheLegacy on Instagram and TikTok.
