I think many of our posters, especially the younger ones, find what happened on Saturday to Fabrice Muamba very hard to come to terms with. I believe the very eloquent words from our own Benny may help. Benoit Assou-Ekotto 19 March 2012 Saturday was one of those days that will stay with me forever. Then again, I hope it stays with us all. There are some moments that make you look at the world with different eyes. But sometimes in these moments there is a magical power because people connect, people see the human in each other and people feel another personâs pain â or at least take the time to think about it. I wish Fabrice a very quick and full recovery, not because he is a good guy, a young man, a fellow professional or a brother but because he is a human and it will be wonderful for him to see for himself the good that has come from this very sad and frightening event in his life. When I saw him lying on the pitch at White Hart Lane, I was scared. Scared for him, scared for his family, his friends and all those people who know him and who care about him. I was also scared because he was just like me. He is young, supposedly fit â an athlete â who a few seconds ago was running up and down the same pitch as me. I had flashbacks of what had happened to my countryman, the late Marc-Vivien Foe. You want to stop these thoughts but the pictures keep coming into your head and I must say I was scared. Scared as I wondered how it could all just end like that for a young man? I could see the same questions in the eyes of my team-mates, the Bolton players, our bosses and their colleagues. And I learnt a new word as I tried to make sense of it late on Saturday: surreal. When I tried to describe it all, my friend said to me âsurrealâ. And it was. As I stood there on the pitch looking at Fabrice and hearing the fans of both teams singing his name, I was in a surreal moment. But I witnessed the magic of the moment. I saw a group of people, professionals, who were not caught up in the moment but were only focused. The medics who took care of him along with the medical guys from Spurs and Bolton were focused on Fabrice (above). They were not distracted by anything, not even the sort of thoughts that I had in my head. Instead they worked, calmly and professionally, doing the things that had to be done. I am not an expert but seeing what I saw, I know we still have Fabrice with us because of the work of these guys. But this was only one of the things that have made this difficult moment so powerful and magical. All around me people were praying. People were focused only on Fabrice. When the referee spoke with the two managers about abandoning the game, there was no hesitation. When it was announced to the fans that the game would not continue, there were no complaints. People who had travelled from far and near were all focused on the wellbeing of Fabrice and nothing else mattered. They silently made their ways out of the stadium. When we sat in the dressing room afterwards we spoke only of Fabrice. When I switched on my phone, the messages I received and the profiles and statuses on peopleâs BlackBerrys and on Twitter were about Fabrice. A lot of people didnât know him but that did not stop them from extending good wishes to him and his family. It didnât stop thousands of people at the stadiums across Europe yesterday from wishing him a speedy recovery, clapping and praying for him. I have seen messages from people from the very far corners of the world all wishing Fabrice well. I have seen people who care very little for football talk about Fabrice. This is the true beauty and power of football. It connects people in a way that is hard to describe. It is this that I feel is the magic of the moment. I pray Fabrice recovers fully to see the magic that he is a part of. He must recover so I can thank him for reminding us that we must always be prepared to put things into perspective. Nobody argued when the referee called off the game. The life of Fabrice was more important. It didnât and doesnât matter if he is tall, short, young, old, black, white, good or bad. All that matters is that we all simply see the human in him. Through a very challenging and scary episode Fabrice has connected us as a football family and he is further connecting us as human beings. His pain and that of his family and loved ones could be a blessing but the true blessing would be if he told the story himself when he walks out of hospital.
BAE has shown on several occasions a depth of thinking and an empathy for life in general that goes far further that most would credit a humble footballer. However, if these are his thoughts and words - even if translated - he has surpassed himself as they are as poignant as they are insightful. I was at WHL and the events were quite 'surreal' but in their own way uplifting. He is a special guy and as I have commented on previous occasions, I am proud that he is a Spurs player. Good on you, Benny!! And wishing Fabrice Muamba a speedy and complete recovery.
His assertion that we should be sad for him because he's a human, not because he's a good guy, who works hard and is young, with a young family. There's also the way he talks positively about some of the faux grief being shown, particularly in highlighting how people who had no clue who he was were reacting to the news. It might not be a good idea for me to go too much into this now but I find the insincerity and hack cliché in this particular photo insulting to Patrice [sic] and some of the more genuine grief that others might have. please log in to view this image Edit: that photo came out smaller than I wanted, you can see it here if you scroll across to the ManUtd/Bolton letter http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/17423843
i understand what he says and its how we all felt...the incident made me put football in its place...but only football..but as we are human...hostilities will be resumed once again...and twice as quick now that we know he has survived..I tell you what really made me see the rest of the world in a diffrent light..when i lost my own father...who didnt receive all these accolades..im glad FM has survived..but it wont change my perception of anything else...ive had surreal and mind numbing before all this..i hope we can keep some form of perspective on this as i feel terribly sorry for the people whos loved ones have had such a similar destiny fall upon them..but there was no medic waiting to see to them and no mass coming together of people to help them get over it. latest news..Muamba was moving his arms and legs and his friends have tweeted to say he has been talking...i dont knw how much of this is true or not...i hope it all is.
We've always loved Disco Benny, because he doesn't pander to popular sentiment, and he's earned our respect for that.
YV - I agree with you that there is undoubtedly an aspect of faux-angst prevailing at the moment - it has been becoming the norm for the past few years, probably escalating following the departure of Diana. However, I think that you are wrong to highlight that with the comments of someone who was as close to the events as Benny was on the pitch. I think some latitude should be applied for a guy who we know speaks with a refreshing honesty on a variety of topics. I can imagine that with such an experience it is easy to see the best in others when they are empathetic to the feelings you have inside: he's probably not going to distinguish too closely between those who are genuinely moved by the events and those who are 'riding the wave'. For me, the bottom line is that he has tried to put into words the feelings that he had at the time and since. As such, he should be given some latitude, don't you think?
You might be right that I've been slightly harsh on him, personally I didn't think what I'd said was particularly critical of him. There's nothing wrong with being wrong Benny has his image, which I like but I think he plays up to it a bit. For instance, I doubt he had his 'fro just because it rained when he wanted to go to get it done, or that one ripped boot meant that he needed to wear odd boots for the rest of the season.
I wish I could say I was just being cynical in this comment, but I wonder if players agents and image advisor's have been letting their clients know what the 'right thing to do' is here? I most certainly don't have any evidence, its just an opinion that I would certainly not extend to anyone on the pitch at the time, and particularly to BAE who has a track record of eloquent and interesting opinions. On a wider level, there is also a great deal of 'national sorrow' about various issues, as someone pointed out, highlighted by the Diana stuff. Basically people reacting to situations concerning people they don't know, sort of as if they do. On one hand this is brilliant in terms of offering compassion, but on the other it does sometimes a little manufactured (and also I sometimes get the feeling that I am being told how to react to something). BUT I think the reaction to the Muamba incident may be a bit different. To a certain extent Diana was a media created product* who was very well known and this just escalated on her death. This incident happened live to a large audience and the immediate (and subsequent) reaction I think is far more real. A confusing and perhaps contradictory reply I'm afraid, but life is complex isn't it! * no offence intended to those with different opinions
I think many people are uncomfortable with outpourings of 'national grief' It smacks of insincerity and hype. I feel it should be about the people who are involved either through friendship or family connections. In this case it happened in public before thousands of people and THEY ARE all involved. We all, no doubt, wish anyone in unfortunate circumstances a happy outcome BUT I would not involve myself in the private grief of others with whom I had no connection, I wish the media would respect this as well.
