Alex Young: Former All White Faces Stage Four Cancer Fight

Alex Young has spent a lifetime stopping trouble in the penalty area. Now the former All White and Tauranga City AFC stalwart is facing a fight no defender can simply head clear.

The 77-year-old has been diagnosed with stage four cancer, and friends from across his football life are rallying to help him meet a $50,000 bill for treatment not funded by the health system.

Young first knew something was wrong when he noticed a growth on his left groin and went to his doctor. Tests at hospital brought the diagnosis: what he describes as an “internal melanoma” that has already spread.

“It was a strange one, but I've consequently got stage four cancer on my liver, on my lung, and on my chest,” he said.

He spent six months on the immunotherapy drug Keytruda. Then it stopped working. The next step was ipilimumab – a drug Pharmac funds for some cancers, but not for Young’s condition.

“I had my first procedure with that, which costs money, obviously. I think the first one was $10,400.”

He is due for his second round of treatment at Tauranga’s Canopy Cancer Care on Wednesday, with four infusions required in total.

From Scottish teenager to All White

Football has threaded through every stage of Young’s life. He arrived in New Zealand from Scotland as a teenager of about 16 and climbed quickly through the grades, his game hardening with every season.

He made his name at Hamilton City, lining up alongside the likes of Keith Nelson, and built a reputation as a towering, uncompromising defender. At around 6 foot 4, he was built for the role.

“Soccer is my sport and life, I suppose,” he said.

His form against touring English sides, including Bournemouth and Luton Town, pushed him onto the national radar. In 1977, he was rewarded with a place in the All Whites squad.

Later, at Tauranga, he took on the dual responsibility of player-coach and drove the club through an unbeaten season, cementing his status as a local great.

‘He took no prisoners’

Those who shared a dressing room with Young remember exactly what he was like in his prime.

Tauranga City AFC life member Mark Bougen, who sat on the club committee with Young in the 1970s, said he was stunned to hear of his old teammate’s diagnosis.

On the pitch, though, nothing about Young surprised him.

“You would call him a no-fuss football defender, a hard Scottish man,” Bougen said. “When he played, he took no prisoners.”

That same straight-ahead attitude is now being matched by the community around him.

A Givealittle page has been set up to help cover the cost of his unfunded treatment, with organisers targeting $50,000 – money they describe as vital “to give Alex the best possible chance” against the disease.

They write that the financial weight of treatment is “too much for one person or family to carry alone, especially while navigating the physical and emotional toll of a cancer diagnosis”.

Young admitted he was initially reluctant to let friends launch the campaign. Pride, and that defender’s instinct to handle things himself, kicked in. But the effort they had already poured into it changed his mind.

“When they came around to see me, they were so good and they had so many good ideas. I thought, well, if they're willing to go to this trouble, I'll try it.”

Donations had reached about $2000 at the time of writing. Every dollar, every message, has landed.

“I'd like to thank them from the bottom of my heart. They're probably strangers. Thank you to them all.”

For a man who once organised backlines and led unbeaten seasons, the challenge now is different, and far more personal. The question is no longer how many goals Tauranga can keep out – it’s how far the football family can push to keep one of their own in the fight.