Just seen this sad story on the local London lunchtime news, relating to a match played last Sunday..his mum and dad were interviewed.

Luca, a goalkeeper, went for a ball with an opposing striker and he received an accidental knee to the head, in the challenge.
He never regained consciencenous...organ donations have been made to four other people.

Posters on this forum, and their children, will have played in thousands of football matches without major mishap - this poor lad never went home..RIP


https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-b ... s-46519800" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

https://news.sky.com/story/extremely-po ... h-11578072" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Terrible accident- heartbrteaking to lose a child.
The parents are being ultra-commendable for donating bodily organs whilst in such turmoil & shock.

As you intimate Hampstead- a case of "there but for the grace of God". There's a lot of luck involved in life, I'm here today in my late 60s because Ive had a decent share of good luck, and so have my kids, thankfully.

Few things make less sense in the world than tragic events like this involving kids having innocent fun.

Thanks for sharing. Having a goalkeeper son of the same age / age group this is just awful news and difficult to read. I've seen my lad play in goal since he was four years old and there were plenty of challenges especially one on ones and 50-50s where he could have come off badly; fortunately he was always the one that got up afterwards having (usually) won the ball, leaving the striker lying on the ground. And I've breathed many a heavy sigh of relief to see him, and the other lad get up reasonably unscathed. Really hits home when you read this news.

I wallow sometimes in the stresses of life; work, women, money, football and my own kids.

But how you deal with this is beyond me. I am a coach and a parent and this is incomprehensible.

Just do one thing today: no matter how crap things are just think of this kid and his parents. Raise your head take a deep breath and no matter what crap you are dealing with (and we all have it) just stop and think about the fact you are here, it should be considered a privilege to be alive. You only get one go.

Be nice.

Live it.

Buy the stranger at the bar a pint.

Awful news. I really don't know how you deal with it. His family, the lads he was playing with and against and those running the club will struggle to cope with what's happened.

Awayfromburnley wrote:I wallow sometimes in the stresses of life; work, women, money, football and my own kids.

But how you deal with this is beyond me. I am a coach and a parent and this is incomprehensible.

Just do one thing today: no matter how crap things are just think of this kid and his parents. Raise your head take a deep breath and no matter what crap you are dealing with (and we all have it) just stop and think about the fact you are here, it should be considered a privilege to be alive. You only get one go.

Be nice.

Live it.

Buy the stranger at the bar a pint.

This.
Never a truer word spoken on this message board.

R.I.P. Luca.. So sad.

How must all involved be feeling, the other boy, his parents, team mates, spectators etc.

Such a sad and tragic accident.

Im not sure i could do it, none of us can say for certain, however I must say what a fantastic thing the parents have done, donating thier chiods organs etc could go on to change or save many more lives.
From that tragic accident some real and brave heroes have emerged... Lucas parents.
You are amazing

It's heartbreaking isn't it.

I too am a Father with a youngster who is a goalkeeper. I take the mick out of him every week for always having some sort of injury as there's hardly any fouls in the games at all.

It just takes one accident.

The boy's mother has just been on the BBC news.

Fair play to the young man for his decision regarding his own recent organ donation decisions...not too many 14 year old's would go through that process.

Maybe more of us could consider organ donation..

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-englan ... -death-son" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

It's heartbreaking to read something like this.

R.I.P

Poor family, awful news.

I was knocked clean out by a knee to the head playing football a few years ago. Thankfully I woke up after a few seconds.

A freak and tragic accident. I played in goal most of my footballing life, given and taken a fair share of knocks. The worst I had was a broken arm, broken foot and a cut to my head. I remember at school at a similar age to this young lad charging out of goal and clearing a through ball. I realized I was going to collide with the forward (one of my good school mates) and put my arms up to defend myself. His follow through going for the ball resulted in his studs going into my knee, and my momentum meant I forearmed him in the face. I ended up with a gashed knee and I knocked him out. As ever back in the day, there was a magic sponge and icy water, which revived the forward and cleaned the blood from my knee. After a short halt in play, both of us got up and carried on playing.

Just shows how fine the margins are between a sponge dealing with an injury and not returning home after a game. Awful for his family and team mates to have to face, and a huge decision for his parents to donate organs. RIP young keeper.