Death of a Footballer

I was having trouble sleeping while the news of Diogo Jota popped on my phone screen, and I could not go to sleep anymore.

There was not too much personal feeling. I thought of Liverpool fans immediately, and imagined how bad they were feeling at the moment. I though of possible cynical comments on social media, as I witnessed so many kinds of news recently ended up being flooded by people complaining about wealth imbalance. I observed X and Instagram, going through all kinds of posts from reporters, news agencies, players, legends, and felt a bit of relief, when all Premier League clubs posted their condolences respectfully after Liverpool released their official statement, roughly 1 hour after the first piece of news came out. I found out people criticizing the use of languages like “rivalry aside”, “although I am a xxx fan”, and could not decide what I should feel about those comments anymore.

One cynical but yet somehow justifiable lines of reasoning would be: why feel so sad for a millionaire thousands mile away for his potentially recklessly driving a Lamborghini that you won’t afford for rest of your life?

This is where football, this beautiful sports that connects people as a global community, comes to play. One enjoys tremendous amount of joy, passion, and sorrow for the team and players they love. The ball game is a part of their lives, no matter what backgrounds, and as fellow football fans, we can always sympathize.

There were quite a few tragic accidents happened to footballers in recent years: Emiliano Sala, Davide Astori, Reyes… The shockest one to me was the helicopter crash of former Leicester boss Vichai. It happened during the midnight of change of Daylight Saving Time, and I was, like always, sleepless, in my dorm in Rome. They are different people from different clubs, it was the passion and the joy they brought to the community that made people so emotional.

One particular footballer’s passing had the strongest personal emotional impact on me: Walter Martínez, known as 小马丁 to fans of Beijing Guoan. I have talked about my identity crisis, and it was teams like Guoan that brought me a sense of belongingness for me to the city of Beijing. As an elementary student, I may have not seen much Guoan’s game in person or even on TV, I always hear those names: Xu Liang, Walter Martínez, Joel Griffiths, 我爱小马丁(a fan) on the sports broadcast, and feel for every game they (or we) won and lost. I was in Beijing on the day the news was out. Martínez and I are both outsiders that had the pleasure to feel somehow belonging to this city.

Death is always a tragic thing, and it makes you think more about what they have brought to people.

What a beautiful song

ᴏʜ, ʜᴇ ᴡᴇᴀʀꜱ ᴛʜᴇ ɴᴜᴍʙᴇʀ 20,
ʜᴇ ᴡɪʟʟ ᴛᴀᴋᴇ ᴜꜱ ᴛᴏ ᴠɪᴄᴛᴏʀʏ,
ᴀɴᴅ ᴡʜᴇɴ ʜᴇ’ꜱ ʀᴜɴɴɪɴɢ ᴅᴏᴡɴ ᴛʜᴇ ʟᴇꜰᴛ ᴡɪɴɢ,
ʜᴇ’ʟʟ ᴄᴜᴛ ɪɴꜱɪᴅᴇ ᴀɴᴅ ꜱᴄᴏʀᴇ ꜰᴏʀ ʟꜰᴄ.
ʜᴇ’ꜱ ᴀ ʟᴀᴅ ꜰʀᴏᴍ ᴘᴏʀᴛᴜɢᴀʟ,
ʙᴇᴛᴛᴇʀ ᴛʜᴀɴ ꜰɪɢᴏ ᴅᴏɴ’ᴛ ʏᴏᴜ ᴋɴᴏᴡ,
ᴏʜ, ʜɪꜱ ɴᴀᴍᴇ ɪꜱ ᴅɪᴏɢᴏ!!