Marc-Vivien Foe Death - His Legacy 10 Years After Collapsing On Pitch
https://nigeriaafrica1.blogspot.com/2013/06/marc-vivien-foe-death-his-legacy-10.html
It was the brutal abruptness of Marc-Vivien Foe's fatal collapse that made it so shocking.
In the 73rd minute of the Confederations Cup semi-final between Cameroon and Colombia at Lyon's Stade de Gerland, the powerful midfielder was jogging along innocuously.
No-one was close to him and nothing seemed wrong, yet suddenly he collapsed to the ground in the centre circle.
Medical and support staff attempted to resuscitate the player on the pitch, before carrying him on a stretcher to the bowels of the stadium, where attempts to restart his heart failed and the man known affectionately by his team-mates as 'Marcus' was pronounced dead.
That was 10 years ago, on 26 June 2003, but the memories are still painfully fresh for Cameroon's then manager, Winfried Schafer. The German says neither he nor his players had realised the seriousness of the situation at first.
"We won the match 1-0 and the players were dancing in the changing rooms afterwards," he told BBC World Service's Sportsworld programme. "Then [captain] Rigobert Song came in and cried and said "Marcus, Marcus" and told us he was dead.
"Everyone was shocked and was asking why. All the players were crying. I went out of the dressing room and heard two ladies crying very, very loudly. Then I saw Marcus lying there, on a table, with his mother and wife by his side. I touched his leg and I went outside and cried too."
Pat Nevin, then chairman of the Professional Footballers' Association, was broadcasting at the tournament and attended a special Cameroon news conference the following day.
"It was devastating for everyone involved, but there were some lifting moments," he remembers. "Seven Cameroon players came out and they all spoke beautifully about their friend and team-mate and their desire to carry on in the tournament.
"It was a beautiful moment after a tragedy and I've been a Cameroon supporter ever since."
A first autopsy failed to establish the cause of the 28-year-old's death, but a second found he been suffering from a condition called hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.
The big question everyone asked was how could a fit, athletic footballer with no known history of heart problems have died in such a way?
"When you looked at that Cameroon team, they were big, strong and tall, and Marc-Vivien epitomised that," Nevin says. "He was a box-to-box player and his fitness was extraordinary."
No-one was close to him and nothing seemed wrong, yet suddenly he collapsed to the ground in the centre circle.
Medical and support staff attempted to resuscitate the player on the pitch, before carrying him on a stretcher to the bowels of the stadium, where attempts to restart his heart failed and the man known affectionately by his team-mates as 'Marcus' was pronounced dead.
That was 10 years ago, on 26 June 2003, but the memories are still painfully fresh for Cameroon's then manager, Winfried Schafer. The German says neither he nor his players had realised the seriousness of the situation at first.
"We won the match 1-0 and the players were dancing in the changing rooms afterwards," he told BBC World Service's Sportsworld programme. "Then [captain] Rigobert Song came in and cried and said "Marcus, Marcus" and told us he was dead.
"Everyone was shocked and was asking why. All the players were crying. I went out of the dressing room and heard two ladies crying very, very loudly. Then I saw Marcus lying there, on a table, with his mother and wife by his side. I touched his leg and I went outside and cried too."
Pat Nevin, then chairman of the Professional Footballers' Association, was broadcasting at the tournament and attended a special Cameroon news conference the following day.
"It was devastating for everyone involved, but there were some lifting moments," he remembers. "Seven Cameroon players came out and they all spoke beautifully about their friend and team-mate and their desire to carry on in the tournament.
"It was a beautiful moment after a tragedy and I've been a Cameroon supporter ever since."
A first autopsy failed to establish the cause of the 28-year-old's death, but a second found he been suffering from a condition called hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.
The big question everyone asked was how could a fit, athletic footballer with no known history of heart problems have died in such a way?
"When you looked at that Cameroon team, they were big, strong and tall, and Marc-Vivien epitomised that," Nevin says. "He was a box-to-box player and his fitness was extraordinary."
