Remembered as a positive influence, a great mate and a good footy player, the life of former Dolphins hooker Liam Hampson was celebrated at a special service at Redcliffe on Monday.
Hundreds gathered at the public service to pay their respects to “Hampo” who touched the lives of many not only at the Dolphins, but also his former Hostplus Cup club Tweed Seagulls and students at Redcliffe State High School where he was working as a teacher’s aide.
Speaking about Hampson before the service, which asked attendees to wear "sh*t shirts and Birks" in his honour, his 2022 reserve-grade coach Scott Murray painted a picture of a much-loved young man with a great sense of humour, who worked hard for everything he achieved.
“It’s great to see so many people here to pay memory to Liam and the person that he is and was,” Murray said.
“It’s been a tough one the past few weeks, you wake up sometimes and think ‘did it really happen?’.
“Whether it’s really sunk it at the moment, I’m not too sure for us all.
He was a wonderful young man that helped a lot of people, and we are really going to miss him.
Scott Murray on Liam Hampson
“He was just fun to be around; everyone just enjoyed being in his company. It didn’t matter how you were sort of feeling during the day, I don’t know how many times I walked into the training rooms that we have got, but if Liam was in the room, everything was okay.
"He just had that personality that was able to light everyone up.”
Hampson passed away last month while on a “holiday of a lifetime” in Europe with good friends including Gold Titans fullback AJ Brimson and Brisbane Broncos back-rower Jordan Riki, who both served as pallbearers during the service.
Family members, former team-mates and school colleagues shared stories about how Hampson had helped them become better people with his relentlessly positive outlook of life and friendly demeanour which had him “saying hello to everyone in the room”.
Like most players with talent and drive, Hampson held dreams for playing in the NRL, and Murray thought given his form during the past season, that was well within his reach.
“I think so, he certainly deserved that opportunity [in the NRL] the way that he played for us. When he came on the field, he made a difference, he was a real 'x factor' for us and he was one of the big reasons why we did so well this year,” Murray said.
Hampson came off the bench for the Dolphins in this year’s Hostplus Cup grand final to help spark a second-half fightback against the Norths Devils, who ultimately prevailed in the contest.
One week prior, Hampson had claimed player of the match honours in Redcliffe’s preliminary final win against Burleigh Bears, where he met Dolphins head coach Wayne Bennett – who was also amongst the crowd gathered at the stadium, impressing him with his performance.
“I only met him once, after the prelim final actually, and I was taken aback at what a fine young man he was,” Bennett said.
“He won the player of the match in the prelim final when I met him after the game and he was pretty talented.”
Redcliffe Dolphins Hostplus Cup captain Cameron Cullen read a poem he wrote about Hampson at the service and also spoke about the loss of a mate.
“He will certainly leave a big hole, I know he was very loved for us, our playing group and whole footy club; and like Scotty touched on, the community,” Cullen said.
“It’s a credit to him to be able to move to a new town and have the impact that he’s had up here, not only at our club, but at the school.
“The Dolphins as a club with a very rich history and his legacy will last here forever so I think that just shows you the type of person that he was.
“I think we would have loved to watch him playing in front of a packed Dolphins Stadium, but like I said, it’s a credit to the person that he was that there are so many people here just to show their respects.”
