Remember Chris.

Support the fight.

1986 – 1 October 2025

Goalkeeper coach. Coffee snob. Life-lover. Deeply missed.

The marathon

Ollie's run for Rambo

Ollie Nash is running the Midnight Sun Marathon in Tromsø, Norway this June in memory of Chris, raising funds for Guy's Cancer Charity, where Chris received much of his treatment. Brentford FC are matching every donation up to £1,000. What started as a £1,000 target has grown far beyond anything we imagined. Every time we think we've reached the ceiling, the generosity of people who loved Chris, and people who never even met him, pushes it higher. The goal keeps moving. Keep helping us chase it.

£8,936

Raised in his memory

162

Donors

Brentford FC are matching donations up to £1,000. Gift Aid is available to increase your impact.

Chris’ story

The man we knew

Chris Ramsey was the kind of person who made wherever he was feel like home, for himself and for everyone around him. He grew up in Perth, Western Australia, eventually making the leap to the UK in 2009, and built a life in London that was full of the things and people he loved most.

He was a self-proclaimed coffee snob, the kind who had opinions about beans, brewing methods, and never settled for anything mediocre. He loved to travel, adored his family and friends, and gave everything to the sport he loved.

At the centre of his world was his wife Bianca. When Chris was diagnosed with bowel cancer in late 2021, Bianca was beside him from the very first moment, not just as a partner but as his anchor. Through four years of surgeries, chemotherapy, radiotherapy and ablative therapy, she was instrumental in his care, his comfort, and his ability to keep living with the warmth and positivity that everyone who knew him will remember. The fight Chris fought, he fought with her.

Chris died on 1 October 2025. Through all of it he remained completely, stubbornly, beautifully himself, and that was in no small part because of her.

Bianca's connection to Brentford didn't end with Chris. The club has remained a source of support and warmth for her since his passing, and her ties to the people there remain strong. In the way they showed up for Chris during his illness, and the way they have continued to show up for Bianca since, Brentford demonstrated what it truly means to be a club family.

Perth to Premier League

Chris's journey into football coaching began the long way round. Growing up in Perth, Western Australia, professional football felt worlds away. In 2009 he moved to the United Kingdom, drawn partly by his grandfather Robert's legacy at Newcastle United. He earned his coaching badges, worked through Chelsea Foundation and Fulham Academy, building his philosophy one goalkeeper at a time before arriving at Brentford in 2023.

More than a club

Chris arrived at Brentford in June 2023, two years into his battle with cancer. The club knew. They took him anyway and they stood by him every step of the way. Through surgeries, through treatment cycles, through the hard days, Brentford showed up for Chris the same way he showed up for every goalkeeper he ever coached.

For Chris, the timing of finding Brentford felt like more than luck. After years of working his way up through Chelsea Foundation, Chelsea's academy goalkeeping centre and Fulham Academy, building his philosophy one goalkeeper at a time, he had finally found the place where everything clicked. He spoke of Brentford not just as a job but as a calling. He felt like he'd achieved everything he'd set out to achieve. He was exactly where he was meant to be.

Within months he was promoted to Head of Academy Goalkeeping, working with goalkeepers from first-team level downwards, including Premier League keepers Mark Flekken and Hákon Valdimarsson. His steady presence and genuine belief in every player's potential became woven into the fabric of the Academy itself. He didn't just help build the goalkeeping programme. He helped build the culture.

More than a club

Honoured at the G Tech

When Chris passed on 1 October 2025, Brentford mourned him as one of their own. At their Premier League match against Manchester City, the stadium fell silent before kick-off, players wearing black armbands, his family and friends in the stands. Academy games that weekend were marked with silence and floral tributes.

At his funeral, dozens of players, staff and managers from Brentford attended. The people he had coached, supported and inspired showing up one last time to say goodbye. For a man who had spent years quietly giving everything to others, it was the truest measure of the mark he left.

The film

This Is Not a Memoir

When Chris was diagnosed in late 2021, his friend and fellow Perth local Josh Earle proposed they document the journey together, not to dwell in the darkness, but to pull something meaningful out of it. What followed were years of recorded conversations in which Chris guided the narrative entirely in his own voice. From first appointments to breaking the news to loved ones, from moments of genuine hope to the bitter weight of setbacks, Chris tells it all. Honest, unflinching, and entirely his own.

"I wanted to make something with him that pulled some positive out of all the negative, and in his own terms, to try to make some sense of it."

- Josh Earle

"I wanted to make something with him that pulled some positive out of all the negative, and in his own terms, to try to make some sense of it."

- Josh Earle

Help Chris's story reach the world

Josh and Chris made this film together over four years. Now it's time to share it with the world. Every donation goes toward festival submission fees for Venice and Locarno film festivals - with a deadline of 23 April.

Any excess funds raised are donated to cancer research on your behalf.

The marathon

The same race.
The same week.
For Chris.

Ollie Nash arrived at Brentford not knowing many people, a long way from home in Australia. Chris was one of the first to make him feel welcome, two Aussies abroad, finding their feet together over good coffee and honest conversation.

When Chris died, Ollie wanted to do something worthy of him. Not just a donation, but a commitment. Something that would hurt a little, take real effort, and keep Chris present throughout. Running 42 kilometres through the Arctic in the middle of the night felt about right.

The Midnight Sun Marathon is one of the world's most unique races -- run above the Arctic Circle under a sky that never fully darkens, in the week of the summer solstice. The race begins at midnight, lit by the glow of the sun still sitting on the horizon. Chris ran this same course in his early 20s. This year's race falls during the week of his birthday.

"Despite three surgeries, endless rounds of chemotherapy, radiotherapy and ablative therapy, Chris remained the positive, life-loving, friend and family man that he always had been."

- Ollie Nash

The marathon

Where your donation goes

Chris spent four years undergoing treatment at Guy's Cancer Centre in London -- three surgeries, multiple rounds of chemotherapy, radiotherapy and ablative therapy. Guy's gave him time, dignity, and hope. Your donation funds the work that made that possible, and gives others the same fighting chance.

Personalised care tailored to each patient

Treatment plans built around the individual -- exactly the kind of care Chris received throughout his four-year fight.

Innovation that advances cancer treatment outcomes

Funding pioneering research into colorectal cancer and beyond -- because better treatments mean more time with the people you love.

Dedicated teams providing compassionate expert care

The nurses, specialists and support staff who show up every single day for patients and families going through the hardest thing imaginable.

Setting standards that define modern cancer treatment

Guy's Cancer is one of the UK's leading centres. Your donation helps keep it that way.

Give in memory of Chris

Chris fought for four years with grace and warmth. Your donation funds the care and research that gives others more time with those they love.

Brentford FC are matching donations up to £1,000. Gift Aid is available to increase your impact.