The people's player? Outpourings of grief: the Princess Diana syndrome. Matthew Syed in today's Times (Times Online [£...less than £10/month mind you]) has a great article that hits squarely the head of the nail in as much as it chimes exactly with my own opinion! "Public grief over Fabrice Muamba moves into soap opera territory".
"So vigilantly is this new idea of grief policed that regarding Muamba. Regardless of the facts, [the pillorying of Manchester United on Twitter for not issuing a public statement] this shows just how far we have travelled from the idea of grief as a spontaneous expression of loss. Now, it would seem, we think that it can be manufactured — even enforced — by cultural decree. And this is deeply dubious. This is not about Muamba; it is about a shift that has taken grief into the territory of soap opera."I will rein-in my cynicism at the 'influx of Premier League stars, carefully snapped by waiting photographers' (encouraged by their agents?) having reached such an extent that that "Muamba’s family has asked for non-Bolton footballers to refrain from visiting the hospital."!
By the way: a Worcestershire schoolboy died yesterday after collapsing during a rugby match in Kidderminster.
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