The Jamaica Football Federation mourns today as football has lost a stalwart, the late Maurice “Danny” Lyn.

Constant Spring Football Club founder Maurice “Danny” Lyn has been hailed as a faithful servant of football who gave his life to sport while contributing to the success of many youngsters off the pitch.

Lyn, 72, died in Canada yesterday morning at about 5 o’clock after battling lung cancer for a while.

“He had been ailing for a couple months and his family in Canada took him up for further treatment but it didn’t work out that way,” his brother Neville told the Jamaica Observer yesterday.

“He contributed a lot to the football community and did a lot for Constant Spring Football Club and I will do my best to try to keep Constant Spring alive because I know that is what he would want,” Neville added.

Neville noted that Danny was a heavy smoker, though he stopped smoking about 10 or 12 years ago, but the disease had spread from the lung to all over his body.

“I guess they found out late,” he said of his brother who had been hospitalised here before travelling north to Canada. And as he reflected, Neville couldn’t resist the memory of his brother “taking many of the youth from Cassava Piece in St Andrew to his Constant Spring club to play football, and for others he made them into decent, upstanding citizens”.

Meanwhile, Michael Ricketts, president of the local governing body, Jamaica Football Federation (JFF), hailed Lyn as someone who gave his “heart and his life to the sport”.

In a release issued yesterday, Ricketts was quoted as saying, “He was active in every area of the sport, although coaching and mentoring were his passion. Danny contributed to the success and livelihood of countless youngsters over many years. The Constant Spring Football Club and the Constant Spring Football Field stand as monuments to his support of the beautiful game.

“His close association with JFF affiliates the Kingston and St Andrew Football Association (KSAFA) and the Inter-secondary Schools Sports Association kept football alive and kicking day and night. We are forever indebted to him.”

KSAFA, too, expressed its deepest condolences to the Constant Spring Football Club and the KSAFA family.

“Danny, as he was affectionately called by the football fraternity at large, was a stalwart of the sport, a faithful servant and a friend to so many.

“We pray for his family at this time as losing a loved one is never easy.

“Rest in perpetual peace, Danny. You will be missed.”