Fabrice Muamba

I was wondering - is it just me that feels the football community always over-stage mourning and honouring when something tragic happens within the football world? We've had Fabrice Muamba honourings for a whole week now, and I don't see it letting up. I appreciate he's one of them, and I'm glad it looks like he's going to be alright but at the end of the day, he's just one guy. There are dozens of people dying every day in syria amongst other places and football has been played through wars and genocides without mention. Not to mention the tragedies that happen in the UK. After a while it all just makes me cringe, there's so much sympathy and mourning going on it can't all be genuine.

I appreciate this might be a controversial topic, slate me if you so please.

 

The problem is that the first team to say "this is enough" will be lambasted and said to be insensitive and uncaring, so everyone just has to go with it.

 

Travelsick- I would cautiously agree with some of what you said.

The reaction was deserved at first, seeing Muamba collapse like he did on the pitch was shocking and frightening, a stark reminder of the mortality of all of us. However, although it is good form to let him know our thoughts were with him, hopefully we can now move on. On the other hand, it is a tribute to what a decent and well liked footballer he is, that he has had so much respect. I wonder, would there have been as much goodwill towards Joey Barton or Lee Cattermole or other twats like that?

You are treading on dodgy ground and maybe offending some people. However the press coverage of bad events is often skewed in the wider world, not just football. For example, think how much fuss there was over Maddie McCann disappearing, compare this to how many missing people there are in the UK right now (lots).

 

I wouldn't slate you, pal, and it isn't just you.

The sympathy for Muamba is utterly excessive, although I haven't the slightest thing against the lad and hope he pulls through. I sleep very badly and often listen to radio through the night. Last Sunday I tuned into Five Live at 4 am and they were still going on about it even then - are the medical facilities at grounds sufficient, shouldn't we do more, blah blah blah ad nauseum. And then of course there is the t-shirt and flowers campaign, with everyone trying their best to seem the most upset.

For me, it's little more than self-pity channeled vicariously through another person. I shudder when I remember Lady Di's funeral. A whole nation losing their heads right before my very eyes over a privileged woman dying because her driver was pissed.

 

It has been over-done I would agree - a real cynic would suggest that Owen Coyle has actually been 'milking' it a little.

 

I work in healthcare so I don't need to be reminded of our fragility or mortality, therefore maybe I'm somewhat numbed to someone being resuscitate before my eyes. However, from a medical standpoint Fabrice Muamba was very lucky. I believe to remember the overall success rate of CPR is below 10% (heavily depending on the reason why someones circulation has broken down). It's not only the overkill of compassion it also seems nonsensical from a scientific viewpoint. His life is no longer in danger. This whole pray4you campaign just seems really tacky. I'm all for educating people in first aid and if this public incident can be used as an incentive, great. Some of the false information going around after the incident though was pretty peculiar.

 

I'm fine with everyone coming together and wishing Muamba well in his recovery, but the whole 'pray' campaign is utterly fatuous, cringeworthy and alienates me from all the people who peddle it. Muamba did not survive and continue to do so because of God, rather the efforts of the heroes who work in our medical services saving lives every single day with little thanks, and also Muamba's own physical fortitude.

The selectivity of thought from these people amazes me. If there was a benevolent god he wouldn't have allowed Muamba to go through this ordeal in the first place, nor would he let millions of people die alone in pain and misery every single day. It is thanks to the wonders of modern science and the heroics of other human beings and to see it attributed by so many people to their various gods, to put it kindly, doesn't sit right with me.

Maybe I'm taking things too literally, maybe not, but that's my take on the situation.

 

I also cringe at the over-use of the word heroes in the media. Doing ones job without putting oneself even remotely in danger... in my view that's not a hero. It's being good at your job. A hero is someone who saves people from a burning building, who jumps into ice cold water to pull out a child or stands up to a bunch of thugs to protect a woman or puts his own life in danger in war saving an injured comrade or ... killing the enemy... at least according to my understanding. Someone i deem worthy of being labelled a hero deserves more praise and recognition.

 

Assuming that was directed at me also due to my use of the word, paramedics and good doctors deserve it in my opinion. They perform a job under duress with massive stakes, and beyond the money they earn they don't really get any personal praise for it. They do it every day, the word 'hero' is not wasted on them in my personal opinion.

 

The thing that annoys me is that everyday many people will have cardiac arrest, some probably while at work, and yet Muamba is on the front and back page of every newspaper in the country.

 

That's just the nature of the beast, people in the public eye are always going to get more news coverage. If it leads to more defib machines and CPR awareness (which there is absolutely no excuse not to know the basics) then it can't really be a bad thing. Understand where you're coming from though.

 

There's a stupid law which states than a person can't use a defib unless working in a hospital. There was a case a year or so back where a GP was visiting his dad in hospital, he crashed and so he used the defib on him and was sued by the hospital. ****ing stupid.

 

I;m not fussed by the pray campaign, i believe it was the quick work of the medical staff that saved his life, not a mythical being. As he's a former gooner though, i thought the poster passed around the north bank stand to wish him well was nice yesterday, good to see we still look out for our own, even if they have moved on (unless they're greedy buggers, in which case they can **** off)

 

I am an atheist, although I think that if he believes people praying for him will help him then I'm all for it.

 

thank god im not the only one who believes this...and ill be at the rescheduled match on Tuesday...hopefully that will be the bloody end of it and i refuse to take part in all the clippedy clappedy..i watched the incident unfold in front of me at the original game...as soon as i found out a day or 2 later that he will survive..i was over it.

99% of the people in this country are not fortunate enough to have a paramedic and doctors sat 5 seconds away...its them poor people i really ponder over....thank god Muamba survived....but come on...someone is going to get a fukin ear full if they get all emotional about it...how can one man get you so upset whilst the other 259 dont as statistically speaking..260 people a year suffer cardiac arrest and die at the scene.

 

This phenomenon has a phrase to describe it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mourning_sickness

I actually agree in general, especially when there's an outpouring of emotion for celebrities dying when people die in horrific situations every day all over the world. Hasn't bothered me much with the Muamba thing though, him surviving the ordeal and hopefully pulling through has actually been really uplifting and it's been great to see the uniting of the football community over it. A lot worse things to complain about in football than this IMO.

 

Also, it's been great having high profile publicity and celebration of the fine work people in medicine do every day. I am in awe of people like those who have helped save his life and to see their good work highlighted in such a way is fully deserving.

 

This I totally agree with. Without these peop,e a young man's life would have been cut seriously short.

 

dont have an issue with the medical staff and their capabilities......i dont think Muamba's incident did much in making me notice much...im sure we have all had incidents closer to home that make us reflect...i still think this clapping...shirt wearing....and all that i saw yesterday was way way over the top....anybody would think he actually did die.

and i maintain my opinion that it happens everyday...to people like me and you..people who wont get attention after 5 seconds...if that doesnt fill men with sorrow then i deem the outpouring of a success story to be pretencious.

 

Sky seem to have milked it for all its worth. I understand Bolton football club continuing to support him whilst still in a precarious position but the rest is now over the top. I have seen him labelled a "hero" etc in recent days? What the **** is that about? How exactly is he a hero? The people who saved his life like the doc who jumped out of the crowd, fair enough, but Fabrice himself is hardly a hero. As for the whole prayer campaign, **** off basically. There is no god so don't be moronic asking people to pray to something which isn't even there.

Don't get me wrong either I wish him and Bolton all the best. I hope he makes a full recovery. I also like that football pulls together for these things. I don't even blame Bolton, they are quite naturally going to be concerned. But this continuing saga and Sky publicising these stupid campaigns really leaves a bad taste.