Australian rugby player, 24, found dead in Spanish club

Charlie Herbert

Australian rugby player Liam Hampson found dead in Spanish club

He had been missing for more than 24 hours

An Australian rugby league player has been found dead in Spain after he went missing on a night out with friends.

Liam Hampson’s body was found on the floor of a nightclub in Barcelona after an apparent fall.

He had been travelling in Europe with a group including players from the National Rugby League (NRL), Australia’s premier rugby league competition.

Hampson played in the Queensland Cup for the Redcliffe Dolphins, a team that will enter the NRL next season.

His friends reported him missing after he had become separated from them when leaving the Sala Apollo nightclub in the early hours of Tuesday local time.

The 24-year-old’s family said they were “heartbroken” by his death, which they described as an accident.

Barcelona police say Hampson’s body was found by employees around midday on Wednesday, the Brisbane Times reported.

According to Spanish news publication El Caso, police believe Hampson may have died because of an accidental fall, while holidaying in Barcelona with a number of NRL stars pic.twitter.com/spTi2IfPO6

— RugbyJOE (@RugbyJOE_UK) October 20, 2022

Officers believe Hampson accidentally fell from a height of about 10m inside, the report said.

A spokeswoman for the Catalan Police said: “Police located the lifeless body of the Australian person that had previously been reported as missing. Workers at a nightclub in Paral.lel found the lifeless body of a man and alerted police.

“After carrying out the regular checks it was confirmed it was that of a person that has been listed as missing since Tuesday. It is an accidental death after falling from a height of about 10 metres.”

Hampson’s sister Tiarna shared a heartbreaking Instagram post on Thursday morning confirming she had received the “saddest news possible”.

“We are devastated to find out Liam had an accident and did not survive,” she wrote.

“We are so heartbroken. Liam was the best brother I ever could of asked for and made me a better person. We cannot express our grief.

“We cannot thank the boys he was travelling with enough for assisting with his search and made sure his last days were the best of his life. Going to miss you so much, Liam.”

https://www.instagram.com/p/Cj5-orYvtl0/?hl=en-gb

Dolphins captain Cameron Cullen said the club and community are in shock following the player’s death.

“It speaks volumes of the impact that Liam had on our club. It was his first year here, but he was such a special person and loved by everyone, so there are a lot of people hurting, that’s for sure,” Cullen said.

“He was such a loving, caring kid. He was always the life of the party and such a fun person to be around.”

A GoFundMe page has since been set up to help Hampson’s family bring his body home to Australia.

At the time of writing, more than $56,000 has been raised.

Hampson started his semi-professional career with the Tweed Seagulls in 2019 before joining the Dolphins this year.

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