Melbourne City’s Rhali Dobson enjoyed the perfect send off from football as she celebrated scoring in her final match by being proposed to by her partner Matt.
Dobson had announced that the clash with Perth Glory would spell the end for her in football as she would be retiring to help Matt during his radiotherapy after he had recently been diagnosed with brain cancer.
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Dobson opened the scoring in the 2-1 win and ran to the corner to celebrate with Matt but, when she arrived, he got to one knee and asked her to marry him. Dobson said yes and the pair embraced before she then turned back with tears rolling down her cheeks and was mobbed by her teammates.
“Matt and I are very open about everything. He was diagnosed with brain cancer six years ago after a seizure on the soccer field when he was playing,” she told ESPN before the game.
“He had brain surgery and that was successful and then he elected to stay on just having reviews with oncology after everything went so well the first time. Purely to help out from a research perspective, he’s really good that way.
“He was having a checkup and they noticed a bit more activity in a very small area [of his brain] back in February…Then we got the news two days after I got back down here to Melbourne that the part that they took out — which they got all of, which is fantastic — had transitioned to a grade III brain tumour.
“So, he now starts aggressive radiotherapy until the end of May and then he’ll start aggressive chemotherapy for 12 months.
“We’ve caught things exceptionally early, he’s on the very positive end of the scale because of his age. He had no other signs or symptoms, it was for him a routine check-up.
“This is bigger than the sport. He is my absolute world.”
