Dale Mooney’s fundraiser gets support from rival fans after death at game

The family of a lifelong New England Patriots fan who died after he was sucker-punched by a Miami Dolphins fan at a game last weekend is now gaining support from the rival fanbase.

Dolphins fans poured in donations to a GoFundMe page launched Wednesday to support the family of Dale Mooney, 53, who died after an incident at Gillette Stadium in Massachusetts Sunday night.

“No fan should not come home from a game,” Dolphin fan Joseph Lang wrote on the page. “Dolphins fans do not condone the actions of that lone fan… my condolences to your family.”

Matthew Derderian added, “May your family find peace during this nonsense. From a Dolphins fan.”

Mooney collapsed and later died after being punched at least twice in the head during a caught-on-camera melee at a Patriots-Miami Dolphins game Sunday night.

Video shot by a bystander showed the 6-foot-3 Mooney being hit in the temple before going down, sparking outrage online.

Now, many are rallying around the father of two — including several Dolphins fans who say the assailant does not represent them.

One woman on Facebook, Rebecca Meains said she was starting a raffle of Dolphins paraphernalia to raise money for Mooney’s family.

“I want to show the Mooney family what type of fan base the Dolphins are, and I’m conducting a raffle and [raffling] off a signed OJ McDuffie jersey, and all proceeds go to the Dale Mooney family,” she posted Wednesday.

“We’re putting this money is from Dolphins Nation fans because we want them to know what type of fan base we really are,” Meains continued.

“Dolphins fans are the best ever. We are a loving, caring fan base and we’re sending our deepest prayers and sympathy to the Mooney family.

“We got to be better humans and be kind in an unkind world,” she wrote.

It had earlier been reported that Dolphins running back Salvon Ahmed also expressed support for Mooney’s family, sharing a link to the GoFundMe.

“I know Dolphins fans are the best at stuff like this, so go show support to this guy’s family,” an account claiming to be the pro-footballer tweeted Tuesday evening.

A follow-up post from the account said, “stuff like this should never happen, especially at a football game that we all love.”

But Ahmed said on Wednesday those tweets came from a fake account.

“It’s come to my attention that there’s a fake X account pretending to be me and posting on my behalf,” he posted on his actual X account. “I want to clarify that I am not currently active on X.”

“The recent post sharing a GoFundMe link, though misleading in its origin, is indeed directed to a legitimate fund.”

Ahmed then continued to express his support for the Mooney family.

“I send my deepest condolences to his family,” he wrote. “The love and support everyone has shown is heartwarming.

“If you’d like to continue contributing, I wholeheartedly support that decision, and GoFundMe has assured me and my team that the fund is genuine.”

Cops and safety personnel responded to the upper deck of the Gillette Stadium just before 11 p.m. Sunday to find Mooney “in apparent need of medical attention,” the Norfolk County District Attorney’s office said.

The office announced on Wednesday that Mooney had died from a “medical issue” and not due to the trauma from the punches.

It did not elaborate on what that medical issue may have been, and said Mooney’s exact cause and manner of death is still undetermined and further testing is necessary.

A witness had earlier told local media outlets that he saw Mooney get into a physical confrontation with a group of other men before the Dolphins fan walked over and slugged him.

“He basically engaged in mutual combat with another fan,” Joey Kilmartin told the Boston Globe, adding that others tried to separate them.

“Then a man in the Dolphins jersey reached over and he connected with two punches to the victim’s head. It wasn’t something crazy or out of the ordinary until, 30 seconds later, the guy wasn’t getting up.”

Authorities say they are reviewing “multiple angles of video capturing the scuffle” amid their investigation and have asked for any witnesses who haven’t yet been interviewed to come forward.

It remains unclear if the unidentified Dolphins fan will face any charges in the wake of Mooney’s death.