THE daughters of a hairdresser and amateur football coach, who has been described as a force of nature and father figure to a generation of young players, have raised more than £3,000 for cancer research in his memory.

Isabella Buckingham and 
Emanuela Alighieri walked a half-marathon in the Shine Night Walk London event a week after their father, Luigi Alighieri, died from pancreatic cancer.

Luigi moved to Woking from Naples aged 18 more than 50 years ago. In 1976 he married fellow Italian immigrant Alfonsina, known as Sina, after meeting her when she was 14.

An apprentice barber, he started working for his cousin Silvio and eventually opened Luigi’s in Victoria Way and later Dante’s in Church Path.

Outside work, Luigi was a keen footballer, playing for Yellow Devils, made up of expatriate Neapolitans and run by Silvio, who also ran the Sinuessa Pizza Spaghetti House in Guildford Road alongside his barbers.

The Yellow Devils’ main rival was Salernitana, made up of players from Salerno. Matches were often spiced up by the long history of animosity between the two Italian cities.

Luigi’s son, Dante, who played for Woking FC and a number of other top non-professional teams, said his father showed an early tactical knowledge that would later make him a superb coach.

“I was too young to see him play but from what I hear, you didn’t mess with my dad on the pitch,” Dante said. “He was quite a strong character.”

As a coach, Luigi transformed Meadow Sports, where Dante and his elder brother Giovanni both played, leading the club from mediocrity to winning a host of trophies.

“He was very passionate,” Dante said. “He wanted us to do better, with very good training sessions that were really well structured.

“Before he joined our team I was just an average player but when he took over, all of us suddenly improved our fitness and ability with coaching two nights a week.”

Dante played for Woking from the youth team to the first 11 in the late 1990s to early 2000s under John McGovern, Brian McDermott and Colin Lippiatt.

“Never in a million years would I have been playing for Woking if it wasn’t for my dad.”

Dante is now a mortgage broker with Oakhill IFS, run by his mother’s brothers and employing several cousins.

Luigi’s hairdressing business is also staying in the family and is run by Giovanni, who has been working for his father for many years.

Giovanni was named after Luigi’s father and Dante after the medieval poet and philosopher Dante Alighieri, who might be a distant ancestor.

“My dad was a good role model,” Dante said. “A lot of people who came to the funeral said that he was like a second dad and someone who helped them to grow and be better men.”

Isabella and Emanuela had been planning to do the Shine Night Walk for six months before Luigi died.

“Of course, the timing wasn’t great, a week after he died, but we went ahead with it,” Isabella said. “We raised an incredible amount and shared it on Facebook. People made their donations in memory of him and wrote messages about him.

“Our dad touched so many lives. He was a force of nature and his larger-than-life personality enchanted all who had the pleasure of meeting him.

“He will be missed terribly and has left us all with so many wonderful memories that we will cherish for a lifetime.”