Fabrice Muamba collapsed live on TV at The Lane yesterday evening in what has been reported as a ‘cardiac incident’.
After an excruciating period of physios and medical staff attending him he was stretchered off and it was announced he was rushed to hospital. The scenes were chilling.
Not because he had some class of heart attack – in the UK alone there are about 275,000 heart attacks annually. So they are not uncommon by any stretch – but to witness one in the middle of a game of football is as about as disconcerting as it would be if it were the lady in front of you in the Post Office queue, or the man next to you in the cinema. Naturally there can’t be a ‘right’ place to have a heart attack but the cold reality is we all prefer a mental image of the unfortunate soul having it being in hospital, surrounded by medics and bleeping machines.
Twitter is a brilliant device as it has not only replaced in many ways the traditional news wires but it’s completely inclusive. You don’t need to be a colleague, friend or relation of either a journalist or an eyewitness in order to immediately share in news or opinion.
A good number of people have been gushing at the reaction of the supporters The Lane. A few understandably hesitant rounds of, ‘Fabrice Mauamba’. Since when has doing the right thing, the only thing been something worthy of praise? The crowd at The Lane have to my mind never been a nasty lot, but to celebrate not behaving badly actually made me feel uncomfortable. ‘A big well done for no one shouting out, ‘get up you girl.’
Last year at the time of a tsunami in South East Asia we had the laughable business of ‘#prayforJapan trending simultaneously with the latest Apple tablet. I suggested by Tweet that instead of a prayer, sending an appropriate charity the £400 or whatever the iPad cost would do more good. Maybe those who replied prayed at me and hence I failed to register their disgust.
I do not believe in the power of prayer. That said, I very much believe it’s mean spirited to mock or challenge something harmless that provides anyone with comfort. If a victim’s friends or family need to pray, good luck to them. but it’s fundamentally disingenuous of strangers to Tweet ‘#pray’ for anything. It’s a device to make them feel better about themselves. The effect on the poor sod surrounded by ambulance men or whatever is zero. Zip. Nada.
Hashtagging #pray is actually taking the p*ss. You walk past a homeless guy with a MacDonald’s cup in his hand. Let me break it to you a hashtag isn’t going to do it for him. In the first instance he needs some cash and the second he needs one or more government agencies to do their jobs properly.
What Fabrice and indeed the other 275,000 odd others who suddenly find themselves in the same horrible and terrifying boat is the attention of those genuinely remarkable individuals who have devoted themselves to medicine and the daily, infinite struggle of furthering human life.
Organised religion has an unquestionably abysmal history with medicine. It is still virtually impossible in 2012 to put an accurate figure upon how many human beings die annually because they refuse medical attention on religious grounds. But do be depressingly assured that you would run out of seats at White Hart Lane simply by attempting to accommodate the Jehovah’s Witnesses alone.
One cannot imagine Muamba’s his relatives must feel right now. If you genuinely want to contribute to the well being of your species then pay a bit more attention to what the politicians are up to when it comes to the tired old issue of healthcare.
Fabrice Muamba is in our thoughts. Let’s ensure our brains, our votes and our loose change when we have it to give are all contributing on a continuous basis to maintain and improve the quality of medical care we can offer each other.
Waaay too many comments to read through. No doubt many as quality as others are pointless.
Saw someone talking about how, if Muamba didn’t make it, thet we should withdraw from the FACUP. What on earth good would that do? Sure, the players and fans, at a replay, would have trouble not thinking about the horrible events that unfolded. But wouldn’t that be the case no matter what? Waithdrawal or no?
What if it had been a league game? Should we have dropped out of the league, too?
It’s a terrible thing, no matter how it pans out. But no amount of grand gestures are going to change any of that, and I’m sure Patrice would want the game to go on, one way or the other.
Genuinely hope that he pulls through. Just as I hope all the other (was it 275K annually?) victims of this sort of thing make it. But that’s all we can really do. Hope.
*Fabrice. His name is Fabrice, not Patrice. Not sure where that came from.
Alspur said it earlier, but other media outlets that reported the incident that referred to him as Patrice, and Keegan during his unfortunate fill-in spot on ESPN actually called him Patrick I think at one point.
Evra-one makes mistakes. :pinch:
See what I did there? One “that” too many. :blush:
This idea that there is some celestial version of Simon Cowell up there with his hand poised over an on/off switch really is bizarre. So what happens? How does (s)he decide who lives and who dies? Does he have a quota system? Does a collapsed footballer rank over a missing child (who is also assumed to be “in peoples prayers”)? Does the prayer system work on the intensity of the praying? Does it work on a numerical system? If he “saves” the footballer does someone else have to foot the bill? I fear if we allow medieval thinking to cloud every judgment we really are not going to advance as a species.
12 bus drivers from Corby win £38m on Friday nights Euromillions, 7 don`t turn up for work on Sat, one gets the news on his mobile while the bus was stopped, he just gets his coat and leaves the bus mid journey, Brilliant £3.1m each. Who says prayer does not work ?
I do, or can you explain how it is that according to you, your “god” answers prayers for $$$ from bus drivers but does not answer the prayers that were made here for the little 8 year old girl who was raped and beaten to death with a hammer..your god sure works in mysterious ways Razspur
There is much you, I and many others will never understand.
Christ died on the cross for our sins, do you celebrate Christmas or Easter ? Yet you don`t believe, who`s the hypocrite ?
no sorry pal, don’t celebrate either. But seriously, is that the best response you have? That is pretty pathetic, I suggest you look into the origins of Easter and Christmas before you use that sad line again…
Or indeed the origins of most of the pivotal elements of the Bible which were borrowed from various other religions.
Chivers you probably want me to go into a detailed response on the horiffic deeds you mention, i shall not be doing that for obvious reasons,suffice to say that the perpatrator was clearly consumed by the Devil, Mans inhumanity to Man. God does work in mysterious ways, his wonders to perform.
I was consumed by KFC bucket a few years back and what I thought was a bright white light turned out just to be the torch of a St John’s Ambulance man.
I would suggest you may have consumed a few glasses of the Devils milk and therin lies your Achilles heel.
H must take you to task on the origins of the bible and various religions. All of the new testament is derived from the Jewish Torah,known to us as the old Testament.The new testament was put together after Jesus life fulfilled all of the torah prophesies concerning him.As for so called “christian” holidays /festivals,most I agree are derived from superstitious pagan rites. I would point out to you if you were wrong about Spurs stuff but you are usually right as this is much easier to research and is current and has recent history going back only 129 yrs Yiddo
I am always open to guidance in such matters!
sigh…might be time to start a theology blog Harry. I don’t claim to have written this but it addresses some of the issues raised.
“Christianity borrowed its central myths and ceremonies from other ancient religions. The ancient world was rife with tales of virgin births, miracle-working saviors, tripartite gods, gods taking human form, gods arising from the dead, heavens and hells, and days of judgment. In addition to the myths, many of the ceremonies of ancient religions also match those of that syncretic latecomer, Christianity. To cite but one example (there are many others), consider Mithraism, a Persian religion predating Christianity by centuries. Mithra, the savior of the Mithraic religion and a god who took human form, was born of a virgin; he belonged to the holy trinity and was a link between heaven and Earth; and he ascended into heaven after his death. His followers believed in heaven and hell, looked forward to a day of judgment, and referred to Mithra as “the Light of the World.” They also practiced baptism (for purification purposes) and ritual cannibalism—the eating of bread and the drinking of wine to symbolize the eating and drinking of the god’s body and blood. Given all this, Mithra’s birthday should come as no surprise: December 25th; this event was, of course, celebrated by Mithra’s followers at midnight.”
Weds night can’t come soon enough we need to change the channel…but will Spurs?
Chivers & HH, i do hope you find nirvana through whatever religion you persue or perhaps through following Tottenham if that`s your raison d`etre.
This was not a Heart Attack! This was a Sudden Cardiac Arrest! Entirely different. The way you are making this sound like a common occurance is really niave and quite embarrissing.
The condition that Muamba suffered only happens to 500 people under the age of 30 every year in the UK. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-17429446
Thankfully the prayers of so many throughout the World have been answered and Fabrice has shown signs of recovery. Family members report that he is moveing arms and legs, his heart is now beating unaided by machines and he has said a few words in French and English. No doubt there is a long road to full recovery ahead but he is a strong lad who i`m sure will fight and i wish him well.
it’s a miracle!!! I suggest we recommend Razspur for beatification after such an emphatic demonstration of the power of prayer….shall I draft a letter to the Vatican HH, or can you get Ratzinger on the blower?
I am too busy embroidering the phrase, ‘A load of old cock’ into a bed sheet. When it is finished I am hoping that when viewed from a hot air balloon you will be able to see the face of St Paul in it.
that bed sheet might come in very handy at The Lane on Wed night if our boys play to form…