The New Zealand futsal community is known for being tight-knit and they showed that solidarity this week when they walked together from English Park to Hagley Park to pay their respects to the victims of the Christchurch terror attacks.

About 200 current and former players from the futsal and football community came from all over New Zealand and Australia to be in Christchurch to grieve for former team mate Atta Elayyan.

Elayyan, a Futsal Whites goalkeeper and cornerstone of the Canterbury United Futsal Dragons, was praying at the Masjid Al Noor Mosque next to Hagley Park when he was shot.

It was not officially confirmed at the time but two fellow members of the Mainland Football community, Tariq Omar, 24, and Sayyad Milne, 14, also lost their lives in the attack.

Dave Payne, the former Chief Operating Officer at New Zealand Football who played a huge role in the growth of futsal in New Zealand, first met Elayyan 10 years ago.

Payne said they formed part of a core group that helped make futsal the fastest-growing sport in New Zealand.

Elayyan was a highly-respected goalkeeper who had played 19 'A' Internationals for the Futsal Whites.

“You always say it happens to the best of people but he was one of those guys,” Payne said.

Elayyan was known for his approachable personality and passed on his goalkeeping wisdom to young futsal players. He also worked with the Canterbury women's futsal goalkeepers, who won the inaugural Women's Futsal SuperLeague title in February. 

“He was 100 per cent one of those true Kiwis who would always give back. Although he played for New Zealand, he was always coaching kids' teams. He was an amazing goalkeeper and would always give up all his own time to train up all the other goalkeepers," Payne said. 

New Zealand Football and Mainland Football representatives, as well as swarms of Canterbury United men's and women's national league players, and futsal members, paid tribute to Elayyan on Sunday, laying flowers and a signed football shirt by the mosque where he was killed. 

Police had informed Payne that Atta was one of three people who tried to stop the gunman at the mosque.

“That's the kind of guy he was," he said.

"When he was playing for his country, he was the guy that when we were losing he just would never give up."

As well as being such a valued member of the futsal community, Elayyan was also one of the country's leading tech developers and ran his own company. 

He is survived by wife Farah and young daughter Aya.

To support Atta's family click here 

Article added: Wednesday 20 March 2019