It has been rightly pointed out that anything other than universal acclaim for his spirit and character, and the hope from all that he would recover, would have been rather bizarre.
This is true – we should expect this unity. But this is a sport in which immaturity usually comes to the fore. In the case of Muamba, he has united everyone. It must say a lot about him, that he brings such warm words and praise. A kid who escaped from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, he has been a fighter his whole life.
On Saturday night, lying stricken at White Hart Lane, his heart was stopped, and it took two hours to get it going again. He was, in reality, dead. That he has come back to life is a medical miracle.
Clearly huge credit goes to those who reacted so swifty. Everyone did what they could. The medics worked together, did what they could on the pitch, then carried him off and took him to hospital as soon as possible. The match was abandoned and everyone prayed. It worked.
To have Tottenham fans joining their rivals to sing his name as he left the pitch, will probably baffle Muamba when he comes to watch that footage, if he does. After all, he was apparently perplexed at why the match was even abandoned. This innocent comment gives away the character of someone who has not got the delusion of grandeur, or the self-importance, of so many. Why would anyone bother cancel a match for him? Because of that precisely – that he is the selfless type of player, so he engendered such warm wishes from all. No-one, basically, wanted to watch a game of football. Just to make sure he was ok.
In Italy, Andrea Pirlo dedicated Juventus’ 5-0 win over Fiorentina to him. Real Madrid’s players came out with shirts wishing well to Barcelona’s Eric Abidal and Fabrice Muamba. Of course Real had to deal with the horror of their own player, Ruben de la Red, collapsing in similar circumstances a few years ago, and being forced to retire from the game with a heart problem.
And Spain has suffered more than most, with the deaths of Antonio Puerta and Dani Jarque in recent years from heart problems. Muamba’s recovery will send a wave of goodwill around the world of football.
Perhaps though, the most important thing it reminds us all of, is that football is not a matter of life or death, as Bill Shankly once said. He may have said it in jest, but if he was around on Saturday night at White Hart Lane, he would never have dreamed to make such a comment. No-one at that match, and few others in the game think that after what happened to Muamba.
