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There might be a lot of tough people out there who'd rather put a cloak over their emotions than being caught teary-eyed. They have never felt the warmness in making others smile or letting go with tears in their eyes.
But most of us are prone to give in to emotions because, after all, somewhere inside this disposable body of sand, there is an organ that beats and makes us numb and our eyes wet with tears.
And football is one of those entities that can make people cry. Almost every football fan in the world has shed tears - be it of happiness or agony. And here are five times when the beautiful game watered our eyes...
#5 Billy Sharp’s gift to his son
For every man, one of the best moments in his life is to see the face of his firstborn child. After all, it is the first time he gets to see his own creation, an extension of his self. When a man takes his child in his arms and sees the light of life in the child’s eyes, it is moment gifted from heaven.
What happens thereafter doesn’t matter – it is that very moment which is cherished in eternity. For Billy Sharp, though, fate had something else in store as his special moment lasted for only two days.
On October 2011, Sharp became a father for the first time. In what was supposed to be a news of joy for Sharp, it soon turned to pain with the realisation that his newborn was diagnosed with gastroschisis – a condition wherein the intestines of the newborn child protrudes out of the body from a hole near the belly button.
Young Luey Jacob, Sharp’s son, died two days after birth, plunging the family in the arms of sorrow. The then Doncaster Rover striker, however, returned to the team in order to play in the very next game against Middleborough three days later.
And like a plot from a movie, Billy Sharpe scored against a peach of a goal and revealed the message written underneath his shirt: ‘That’s for you, son.’
And it made us all cry. All of us.
#4 The brave Bradley’s goodbye
This is the most recent incident to bring the football world to tears. And even after over three months of his passing away, Jermain Defoe admits that "I'll never forget him. I still have messages on my phone - and videos.
"I think about him every single day and get upset about his death because it is still fresh... the pain he went through."
Bradley was a 6-year-old Sunderland fan who appeared as a mascot in the club’s game. He absolutely adored Defoe and was often seen holding hand with him while going out on the pitch on match-days. At a mere age of 18 months, Bradley was diagnosed with a brutal form of cancer named neuroblastoma.
When the cancer first appeared, it developed a tumour that was so big that it put pressure throughout his body. Unfortunately, it kept spreading and reached his lungs, chest, lungs, lymph nodes bone marrow and bone, but he went into remission thanks to large doses of chemotherapy and a major surgery.
But it was back again in July 2016 and despite making a lot of effort to save the child, the doctors reported that his cancer had become terminal. On July 7 – almost exactly a year later – he lost his battle and was carried away to the heaven by the angel of death.
His death shook the entire fraternity, who were inspired by his tough fight against the deadly disease.
#3 When you meet your idol
This might not be as popular as the other events on this list, but I doubt there is a single person who didn’t find her/his eyes watery after watching this incident. It took place at a time when Radamel Falcao was recovering from a terrible ACL injury in 2014.
The World Cup was just a few months ahead and there was a good chance that he would miss it – which he eventually did – but there were many people in Colombia who were hopeful that their idol would recover in time and make it to the World Cup.
One such fan was a 12-year-old kid from Colombia who was flown into Madrid along with a few more Colombian kids – all of whom were actually youth players back in Colombia.
The moment this little kid sees ‘El Tigre’, he just breaks down and howls in joy. At first, you can see Falcao feeling a little uncomfortable with the kid’s response, but when the child says that he prays for his knee to become stronger not because he wants to see him at the World Cup, but because he wants him healthy, even the former Atletico Madrid striker star tearing up – and so do the ones that watch it.
#2 Appie Nouri collapses
Life can be so strange at times. So, so strange. There are people who want to die, but can't seem to pull the plug. And then there are others for whom people wish that they died due to the atrocities that they carry out to their surroundings.
Some, however, just love living because life has a lot in store for them. One such individual goes by the name of Abdelhak Nouri, Ajax's former midfielder. Typing the word 'former' itself is unbearably painful because he is only 20-years-old and had the world at his feet.
Ajax were grooming a sort of a golden generation last season with talents such as Kasper Dolberg, Davinson Sanchez and so on. Appie Nouri was one such player who was among the brightest stars in the team.
Also read: Abdelhak Nouri: Will you remember me?
However, life had something else in store for him. In a friendly match against Werder Bremen, Nouri collapsed on the floor and was later rushed to the hospital, where it was declared that he had been inflicted with permanent brain damage and could never again lead a normal life, let alone play football.
It was such a cruel move by destiny against a person who had so many dreams and on whose shoulders lay so many hopes. Life can be so inscrutable at times.
#1 A minute of agony
Whenever something tragic happens, footballers concerning that incident or that area usually stand for a minute of silence before the next game as a means to show respect to the fallen ones. This has been a common practice for a long time.
But one of these days, it became a minute of agony for everyone in the football world. On November 28, 2016, LaMia Flight 2933 crashed in Colombia and killed 71 of the 78 people on board – including almost all the members of the Chapecoense football team.
It was a catastrophe that shocked the football world and sent everyone in it in a state of doom. Every football team, then, in their very next games, showed respect to the fallen ones by observing a minute of silence.
A lot of footballers broke down during this. One of them was Arsenal’s Gabriel Paulista, who knew some of the players personally.
After the event, he gave an excruciatingly painful speech and broke down during it. Everyone in the football fraternity – from the fans to players – were left in a state of agony with what had happened. And Gabriel represented each and every one of us in that regard.
