'Hitchy is always with us': football club honours keeper killed in one-punch attack
More than 18 months after goalkeeper James Hitchcock died following an unprovoked one-punch attack, his family and non-league club Barton Town continue to keep his memory alive.
In December 2024, 32-year-old goalkeeper James Hitchcock, known to teammates and friends as 'Hitchy', died after being struck from behind in an unprovoked attack at York Railway Station. He collapsed, suffering a skull fracture and brain damage, and later died in hospital. The attack happened just a day after he played his last match for non-league side Barton Town.
Hitchcock, a former Leeds United academy player, had gone on to play in local Hull leagues before joining Bridlington Town and then Barton Town. He had become a father just months earlier, with his son Freddie born shortly before his death, and the attack occurred right before what would have been his first Christmas as a dad.
Mckenzie Dicicco, then 22, was sentenced in July 2025 to six years and eight months in prison after pleading guilty to manslaughter. The judge described the assault as a cowardly, deliberate and vicious attack on a man who had no chance to defend himself.
Barton Town, based near the Humber Bridge in Lincolnshire, has honoured Hitchcock by stitching 'Hitchy #1' onto the back of the team's shirts and installing a memorial plaque at the players' tunnel entrance. Teammates and the club's manager remember him for his infectious laugh, sense of humour and ability as a shot-stopper.
His widow, April, and their now two-year-old son Freddie, will attend one of the biggest matches in the club's history on Saturday - an FA Cup third qualifying round tie against Chorley. April regularly brings Freddie to matches so he can grow up knowing about his father. Hitchcock's former clubs, Bridlington Town and Barton Town, now meet annually for a memorial trophy match that raises funds for a charity supporting victims of homicide.
