Dignity in death - a footballer's guide

[floyd__streete]

Had to frown when reading the Sunday paper today; a picture of Fabregas raising an Arsenal shirt with 'JARQUE 21' on the back to the skies having scored in the rout on Everton. Apparently this shirt was left on the touchline for Fabregas to fetch in a 'touching' display of comradeship towards his former Spanish Under 21 team mate who died from heart failure during a training session. Begs the question what would Fabregas have done with the shirt had he not scored and of course I can't actually recall Jarque having played for Arsenal but I digress.

What planet do footballers live on, seriously? This tragic and awful story got plenty of column inches this last week, did we really need Fabregas's own personal tribute. The death of a talented young man in his prime is obviously a terrible thing to happen, but why can't footballers/celebrities deal with death in a more dignified, private way? Fabregas could perhaps have asked to attend the funeral or better still donate a month's worth of his inflated salary to charity by way of tribute, perish the thought. No, it always has to be a rather tacky grand gesture in the public eye as if Daniel Jarque was a figure of global importance. Remember the Ipswich player doing the handcuffs celebration for Luke McCormack last season? The self-importance and insularity of football and footballers is beyond belief.

[Royal With Cheese]

The self-importance and insularity of football and footballers is beyond belief.

Not really, let's look back over the last 20 years. The Bosman ruling, the rise of Sky, the Champions League and the "celebrity" culture the UK's media is centred around as given these people an over inflated sense of thier own importance in the world.

I rememberd laughing when I heard Carl Asaba was arguing over his "image rights". I'm not laughing now.

[Rev Algenon Stickleback H]

What planet do footballers live on, seriously? This tragic and awful story got plenty of column inches this last week, did we really need Fabregas's own personal tribute. The death of a talented young man in his prime is obviously a terrible thing to happen, but why can't footballers/celebrities deal with death in a more dignified, private way? .

Probably the same reason that other celebrities can't. They feel the need to be in the spotlight, and therefore just paying a tribute is not enough. They have to be seen to be paying a tribute.

[TBM]

Fabregas could perhaps have asked to attend the funeral or better still donate a month's worth of his inflated salary to charity by way of tribute

How do you know he hasn't???

Surely its no different to a player doing the baby swing when a player becomes a Dad, or Lampard pointing to the sky in memory of his Mum etc

IF he didn't do something then there would probably be someone like you on another internet forum slating Fabregas for NOT paying tribute to a good friend of his......

[floyd__streete]

IF he didn't do something then there would probably be someone like you on another internet forum slating Fabregas for NOT paying tribute to a good friend of his......

I did not even know until this morning that Fabregas was friends with someone who, this time last week, I had never even heard of, but I am quite sure that someone like me would not have slated someone for not wanting to pay a very public tribute to their friend, no .

I fear that you have slightly missed my point somehow anyway, perhaps I didn't express the point clearly enough.

[Deathy]

What do you make of Kaka falling to his knees; ripping his shirt off, displaying a message pronouncing his love of Jesus, and putting his arms out and looking up to the heavens? He's been dead a long time!



The way I see this with Fabregas is that he new someone, he died, he wanted to honour his memory with a goal and that was how he did it. Nothing at all wrong with it.

[TBM]

IF he didn't do something then there would probably be someone like you on another internet forum slating Fabregas for NOT paying tribute to a good friend of his......

I did not even know until this morning that Fabregas was friends with someone who, this time last week, I had never even heard of, but I am quite sure that someone like me would not have slated someone for not wanting to pay a very public tribute to their friend, no .

I fear that you have slightly missed my point somehow anyway, perhaps I didn't express the point clearly enough.

What was the point, cos maybe i have missed it....

But you did say
"did we really need Fabregas's own personal tribute" - the answer to you is "no" but to others out there the answer is "yes" - all i meant was that you saying he didn't need to do it, there would probably be someone else out there saying he should have paid tribute in some way......had he done nothing.

[cmonurz]

We just don't know enough about this to comment. Maybe Fabregas asked to make a tribute to Jarque pre-game, but this was rejected? Who knows. I don't personally see an issue with someone using a goal as an opportunity to remember a friend, who has died in such tragic circumstances, even if, from the looks of the faces of the supporters, few had any idea what he was doing.

[TBM]

We just don't know enough about this to comment. Maybe Fabregas asked to make a tribute to Jarque pre-game, but this was rejected? Who knows. I don't personally see an issue with someone using a goal as an opportunity to remember a friend, who has died in such tragic circumstances, even if, from the looks of the faces of the supporters, few had any idea what he was doing.

Thats it.....everyone probably heard bout "that bloke who died of heart attack" last week but how many of you could remember his name after that, i bet alot more do now. Remember before the game they had a minutes applause for Bobby Robson, fair enough, so what is wrong with Fabregas holding a shirt of a friend of his in tribute.

Had it been a shirt of his brothers new baby boy or something, then yes, i would agree with you but him holding a shirt up for a couple of seconds in tribute of a man who's just died is no different to him having that minutes applause before the game of a man he probably never met.

[floyd__streete]

What was the point, cos maybe i have missed it....

Maybe this would have been better in AE as it was a general comment about the invasive culture of celebrity as Rev Algenon Stickleback H alludes to, with particular reference to my own annoyance at the self-importance of football and footballers. Jarque's death was an awful, depressing thing to happen, but was it was it really necessary for Fabregas to make such a self-indulgent gesture in front of paying spectators and millions watching on television?

If you went to see Hamlet the day after Richard Harris had died for instance, and Michael Gambon - let us say - rotated Yorrick's skull towards the audience at the end of a soliloquy to show RIP RICHARD written upon the cranium in felt tip pen would you not think that was a bit self-indulgent?

[Starfish]

I take your point floyd but the fact that you are really not fond of Arsenal doesn't do your cause any good. I know you don't have a 'cause' as such, but there you go. Had (say) Torres done the same, would you have gone to the trouble of starting a thread about it? I'm not so sure.

[Jerry St Clair]

The reason for this type of behaviour is, of course, our old friend Sky. Fabregas is unlikely to have played in many matches in his professional career that haven’t been covered from every angle by dozens of cameras. The modern footballer is a product of relentless TV coverage and everything they do is governed by it.

Players now routinely head for camera men on the touchlines after scoring goals and, frequently, perform a pre-rehearsed dance routine to boot. If you watch matches pre-1992 how may players ran to the corner flag to celebrate a goal?

As ever, it’s partly our fault. We demand this saturation coverage and, as a result, we’re going to get self-indulgent footballers in return.

[cmonurz]

Presumably Lampard was (or still is) equally self-indulgent for dedicating every goal he scores to his Mum.

[papereyes]

If you watch matches pre-1992 how may players ran to the corner flag to celebrate a goal?

Roger Milla ftw

[cmonurz]

Lee Sharpe certainly did, not sure when that was though.

[TBM]

Presumably Lampard was (or still is) equally self-indulgent for dedicating every goal he scores to his Mum.

Surely its no different to a player doing the baby swing when a player becomes a Dad, or Lampard pointing to the sky in memory of his Mum etc

[sheshnu]

What about the sheer cheek of Ameobi dedicating his hat-trick to Sir Bob? Self-indulgent pratt.

Or is it just a heartfelt display of love and respect from somebody in the privileged position to do such a thing? I'm not sure I understand what the problem is.

[floyd__streete]

What about the sheer cheek of Ameobi dedicating his hat-trick to Sir Bob? Self-indulgent pratt.

Or is it just a heartfelt display of love and respect from somebody in the privileged position to do such a thing? I'm not sure I understand what the problem is.

He did this after the game, presumably in a media interview. Not exactly a the kind of tacky tribute paid by Fabregas.


Re: comparing the Lampard goal 'celebration' with the Fabregas gesture, it is a bit of a red herring really as I would say that the death of your mother is a bit different to the death of a colleague. And quite apart from that, it was not as if Lampard ran over to the bench to parade a Chelsea shirt saying RIP MUM.

Anyway, this is all about different shades of opinion isn't it?

[TBM]

it was not as if Lampard ran over to the bench to parade a Chelsea shirt saying RIP MUM

[floyd__streete]

I thought that he just pointed at the SKY! Oh well. I look forward to a string of similar celebrations. What next? RIP Rex on a Manchester United shirt when Rooney's dog dies?