Serie A in Mourning

Today in a Serie B match at Pescara between the hometown Delfini and the visiting Amaranto from Livorno, midfielder Piermario Morosini who was on loan to Livorno from Udinese Calcio collapsed in a heap around the 31st minute of the match. Players and support staff rushed to his help but they could not revive the 25 year old who died in transit to Pescara’s Santo Spirito hospital. Cardiologist Edoardo De Blasio confirmed the death, stating “unfortunately he was already dead when he arrived at th hospital. He didn’t regain consciousness.” The match was called off and in support the entirety of Serie A and Serie B matches were postponed. It is an immensely sad day.


This marks another in a long line of incidents around the world of young men in their prime being taken from us before their time. Bolton Wanderers player Fabrice Muamba was spared earlier this month, miraculously recovering after almost 78 minutes listed clinically dead, but the list is long of players who were not so lucky: Antonio Puerta of Sevilla, Dani Jarque of Espanyol, Phil O´Donnell of Motherwell, and going back to the haunting images of midfielder Marc-Vivien Foe fighting for his life on a pitch in Lyon in 2003 for an international match between his beloved Cameroon and Colombia. These are amazing athletes, indestructible it seems, but they are no more than we are, vulnerable to the frailties that they carry 


The call will be louder now to get emergency equipment available at every ground, and getting players tested for heart irregularities, many clubs already do so, and more players like Sergio Sanchez of Malaga and retired Real Madrid midfielder Rubén de la Red who have been able to have their heart-problems detected will be saved, but the answers may not be so simple to set in place. We have to care that the modern game itself is incredibly trying on the human body. The training and the supplements, the games at all hours, the off-season travel and the international tournaments, they all have an effect. All of them may need to be reassessed. 


Right now though, the most important thing is to send support, moral or otherwise to the club, to Piermario Morosini´s team-mates and to his family. They are in pain. For the player, may he rest in piece, que en paz descanse, che riposa in pace.