Fabrice Muamba unites football...for now

The sight of a young man fighting for his life is going to leave an indelible mark on anyone who witnesses it. The shock and horror that was clear to see on the faces of the players, coaches and fans present at White Hart Lane on Saturday is testimony to that.

As Fabrice Muamba of Bolton Wanderers lay prone on the turf, with a team of medics desperately working to save his life, thousands there and millions watching on television were willing the footballer to be OK, to get up, to pull through. The first 41 minutes of the FA Cup quarter final clash became irrelevant as people wept, prayed, held their head in their hands, shouted in desperate defiance or simply fell silent. Even for me, waking up on the other side of the planet and watching the footage after the fact, it was harrowing to see and deeply, deeply upsetting.

Thankfully, the latest news reports suggest that his condition is improving - but this does not mean he is out of the woods, and I would expect it will be a long while yet before any diagnosis can be made as to the lasting damage that the 23 year old has sustained. Suffice it to say that I, along with the millions of others that have voiced their support, welcome every bit of positive news and sincerely hope to see Muamba fit and healthy and playing football again.

Indeed one of the most striking aspects of this terrible incident has been the unified response from all of football. Ignoring (for now) the idiot on Twitter who has since been arrested, the overwhelming view has been of a great guy, one who has fought extremely hard to achieve success from the most hellish of starts, and who is universally liked and respected.

It shouldn't come as a surprise that in the light of such genuine life or death moments, football fans can put aside their rivalries and unite for a cause far more important... but to be honest it still does. The gesture by Real Madrid players to wear shirts sending a get well message to Muamba, a player in an entirely different league and country, was excellent. The fact that they also sent the same sentiment to Eric Abidal was perhaps even more astounding and commendable - Abidal is of course a hated and despised Catalan rival for most of the time; but whoever commissioned those shirts understood when things are more important.

My fear is that this wave of goodwill, which is currently portraying our beloved sport in the best possible light, will not last for very long. Right now we are seeing the best of what football can be - a sport that brings people across the planet together, that gives a platform for the best of human compassion to be demonstrated, that highlights the importance of unity, respect, and just bloody well being nice to your fellow man. The catalyst for this has been the shocking sudden collapse of a fit, healthy, well-liked, high profile young footballer. That's why I think it won't last.

In 1958, 23 people were killed in a plane crash. In 1985, 56 people died in a fire, whilst a further 39 were killed as a result of crowd trouble. Four years later, 96 people were crushed to death. More recently, 2 young men were stabbed and killed. A convoy of coaches was riddled with mahcine gun fire, resulting in three deaths. This season, a young man lost his infant son, just two days after he was born; and a father of two killed himself.

Every single one of these incidents has been used by football fans as a subject of provocation. Chants, banners, gestures - whatever it might be, for years football fans have seen literally everything as fair game to abuse your hated opponents. It's funny, it's banter, they started it, they sang about x so why shouldn't we sing about y.

To the right-minded, it is utterly abhorrent to refer to any of these incidents, or countless others that I could have mentioned. We'll all stand in the stadium and tell a player in no uncertain terms what we think of him, but generally I'd suggest that the vast majority understand the lines that should never be crossed. I'm not trying to come off holier than thou here - I got a serious talking to at age 13 or so having called Dean Sturridge of Derby County an 'f'ing d*ckhead' from the Milton Road end at The Dell. (He was.) You know what I mean though - songs about incidents where people have actually died, songs about the colour of someones skin, or their family - the decent folk simply don't go in for that.

Right now it feels like football is full of decent folk, and maybe we've all turned a corner. My gut feeling though is that the aforementioned Twitter scumbag is simply the front runner. If football fans see it as fair game to sing about Hillsborough, Munich and so on, you can be damn sure Fabrice Muamba is going to cop some abuse. I don't really know who Bolton's biggest rivals are; I guess Bury, Wigan and Blackburn. This might be ignorance on my part but I don't think they have any super-heated rivalry the likes of the Glasgow, Liverpool, or Manchester clubs. Hopefully that might reduce the need for fans to find this horrible incident as something to use against the Trotters, but I fear that might be in vain.

If this had happened to a Southampton player, I'd fully expect the next South Coast Derby at home to Portsmouth over Easter to be a fiery affair, spilling over when the inevitable chants or songs were heard.

Maybe I'm being cynical, maybe the exemplary behaviour on display at White Hart Lane was indeed the pivotal moment when we can all start behaving like humans and the idiot minority can be marginalised to the point of extinction. I hope so, truly I do. There can be rivalry, passion, banter and abuse without descending into absolute base amorality. I just don't see it happening over this.

Don't agree with me? Fair enough, but in closing, consider this:
Sickipedia already has four pages worth of Fabrice Muamba jokes.

(Note: if easily offended, don't go anywhere near Sickipedia, I implore you)