TRIBUTES were paid yesterday following the death of a football-mad teenager who “always had a smile on his face”.

Aown Dogar died after falling into the River Thames near Donnington Bridge in Weirs Lane on Thursday evening.

The 13-year-old had to be pulled from the river by emergency services, which were called at about 7pm. He was taken to the John Radcliffe Hospital in Headington by ambulance but pronounced dead at 9pm.

The Cheney School Year 9 pupil had recently played his first football match in a tournament for Quarry Rovers FC Under-15s on Saturday.

Manager Mark Lygo said he was going to pick the huge Arsenal fan as the side’s top striker, and added the team had been left heartbroken.

The Oxford city councillor said: “He was passionate and he was always respectful as well. His passion and his enthusiasm was second to none.

“He was a friendly lad who always had a smile on his face the whole time and he would always come up to me and the coach and ask what he needed to do.”

The club will be retiring his number 17 shirt – the same as his Arsenal hero Alexis Sanchez – as a mark of respect. Last night they held a minute’s silence at their training ground in Margaret Road, Headington, at their weekly training session.

Yesterday, almost 200 pupils from Cheney School went down to the scene of the tragedy to leave flowers and send paper boats out on to the river. Deputy headteacher Sylvia Hawken said it was incredibly humbling to see about 170 of the much-loved schoolboy’s friends pay tribute to him.

She added: “We have been incredibly moved by the outpouring of tributes from the students and the family were as well.

“They put down flowers and they sent paper boats along the river. It was an incredibly tragic situation. The students just can’t believe it.”

She told the Oxford Mail the family came out and joined the grieving students, who came from a wide variety of year groups, at the bridge over the river.

In a statement yesterday, the school said it was “deeply saddened” by the loss of Aown, who also played cricket but was said to have valued his education profoundly too.

On a Facebook tribute page to the teenager, loved ones posted messages offering their thoughts and prayers for his family.

Among the first floral tributes to have been left at the weir was one from a woman, who said her daughter went to Cheney School with Aown.

The beautiful bouquet of white and pink roses and lavender, wrapped in purple tissue paper, was left at the barrier on the edge of water.

Calls have now been made for extra safety measures to be placed on Weirs Lane near the river, with the tragedy following the death of Hussain Mohammed, who jumped off Donnington Bridge in May 2012 after being dared by friends.

Oxford Mail:
Sorrow: Classmates and teachers of Aown Dogar gathered at Donnington Bridge

On Thursday neighbour Jane Madden, who has lived in Weirs Lane her whole life, said “It’s really dangerous, especially when the lashes are in full flow and the weir is open.

“The river is the biggest danger here.

“You have undercurrents and who knows what in there, bikes that are thrown in there. We have to warn people that it’s not safe.”

It is still unclear how Aown ended up in the water but Thames Valley Police said it was not treating the death as suspicious.

Spokeswoman Connie Primmer added a file was now being prepared to be handed to the coroner’s office with an inquest likely to be opened soon.