It is with much sadness that we have learnt of the death of former AFC Sudbury midfielder Adie Hayes at the age of 36 after fighting a courageous battle with a brain tumour.

He was born in Norwich, 22nd May 1978.

Adie joined John Beck's Cambridge United as a 14-year-old schoolboy and went on to make 34 League appearances for 'The U's' under manager Tommy Taylor.
He moved on to Kettering and then Diss Town before joining Boston in February 2000 for £4,000. He the joined King's Lynn where he made 94 appearances scoring 13 goals.
He was sold to Cambridge City in May 2002 for an undisclosed four figure fee.
Ex-Lynn manager Tommy Taylor, then manager of Farnborough, signed him from Cambridge City for a small fee in July 2003.

He signed for AFC Sudbury at the start of the 2004/05 season and made his first AFC appearance in a pre-season game against Desborough Town at King’s Marsh on 17th July 2004.
He got injured in his second pre-season game at Witham Town and in September 2004 found out he had a ruptured cruciate ligament in his knee and needed a major operation to repair it.
This would keep him out of action for around nine months. He made a remarkable recovery and came on as a substitute at home to make his debut on 14th April 2005 against Mildenhall Town and also made an appearance in the Vase Final against Didcot Town.

It was not until 3rd September 2005 that he started a league game. He played through the 2005/06 season making 56 appearances and scoring 7 goals.

His services were not required by the new manager at the start of the 2006/07 season and he signed for Mildenhall Town. He was red carded in his first competitive game for them and on 11th September left and signed for Dereham Town. He was still with them at the start of the 2007/08 season and played throughout it. In the middle of June 2008 he joined Diss Town again. February 2009 saw him thinking of retiring due to a knee injury but decided to carry on, however he did not play again in 2009/10. At the start of the 2010/11 season in July 2011 he was back training with Fakenham Town. In December 2011 he was still playing for the ‘Ghosts’.

Condolences go all his family from all at AFC in their sad loss.