Thursday, April 26, 2007

Alan Ball. R.I.P

Alan who?



Alan Ball, ex-arsenal & england, world cup winner in 1966, who died of a heart attack yesterday, aged 61. (read here & here)

footballers come & go, so what's the deal here? nothing, except that i've been supporting arsenal f.c. only all my life & Alan Ball was the ONE i hero-worshipped. there was "hot-shot" charlie george, "general" frank mclintock & "safe-hands" bob wilson, but Alan's the one for me. his framed pictures, cut out from Goal! & Shoot! magazines, adorned the walls of my room & demonstrated my dedication. during a period of abject reverence to him, i even called myself Alan.

ha ha, talk about impressionable young minds!

for me, football worship was a temporary sojourn en route to adulthood, a rite of passage, to be oh, so cliche. something to keep boys off mischief while bonding with the guys, at a time when the phrase "eat & sleep football" hasn't been coined yet.

so now, at the end of Ball's journey, if i have to drop a line to the bereaved family, it would go something like this :

"may he continue to play in the great football pitch in the sky.
with deepest condolence,
from Dr Alan T"


Arsenal forever!!


**image : source**

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hmm too bad I don't know him at all. But he must be some football star seeing how you wrote this entry!

Thanks for dropping by! :o)

doc said...

nesh,

he was the only footballer i ever idolised.

thks for the comment.

The thumb in every pie said...

I still think "Alan" would sound good on you bcoz firstly, it starts with the first letter of the alphabet, secondly, it's a great 4-letter word and thirdly, even the Ah Lians and Ah Bengs know how to pronounce it properly for once...thanks to Alan Tam :D

doc said...

Andrea,

Dr Alan T ceased to exist the day Alan Ball passed on.