Joe Thompson 1989 - 2025
Joe Thompson was a much-loved English professional footballer best known for his time at Rochdale AFC, where he became a club hero and inspiring figure. Born in Bath, he came through the Manchester United youth academy before joining Rochdale, making over 200 appearances across several spells and helping the club stay in League One with a crucial goal in the 2017–18 season. Thompson’s career was defined not just by his footballing ability but by his extraordinary resilience: he battled cancer three times, overcoming it twice during his playing days and returning to the pitch before retiring in 2019 due to the physical toll of his treatments. After football, he worked as a motivational speaker and media pundit. Tragically, he passed away in April 2025 at the age of 36 after his third fight with cancer, leaving a legacy of courage and inspiration for the Rochdale community and beyond.
The Joe Thompson mural in Rochdale was painted by the acclaimed mural artist AKSE P19 (often credited simply as AKSE).
AKSE is a Manchester-based street artist known for large-scale, photorealistic mural portraits, particularly of football and cultural figures. For the Joe Thompson piece at Crown Oil Arena (situated at the corner of Sandy Lane and Willbutts Lane), AKSE captured the iconic moment of Thompson celebrating his crucial goal that kept Rochdale in League One in 2018. The mural also incorporates one of Joe’s own inspirational quotes: “Don’t live life to survive, live life to thrive.”
The work was commissioned by Joe’s family in partnership with Rochdale AFC following his passing in 2025, and it now stands as a heartfelt public homage to his legacy both on and off the pitch.
Other artwork locally includes Paul Scholes Mural where there is a geocache (GCBJ8Q0)
To locate this geocache you need to solve the jigidi to get the north coordinates and the visit the location and work out the following puzzle from the mural for the West coordinates
https://www.jigidi.com/s/kibmqj/
At this location there is a mural with Joe Thompsons signature phrase. Using this and the simple code of a=1 b=2 c=3 etc work out the coordinates
A - 8th letter on the first line + last letter on the second line
B - 2nd letter on last line
C - 8th letter on second line
D - 11th letter on first line - last letter on first line
W002 A.BCD
HAPPY HUNTING!!!!!