A death to mark a before and an after

The misfortune of this week in Spain bears the name of Jesus and took place in Tenerife. Jesús (de Miguel) is the name of the footballer from the Canary Island team who was running on the counterattack in search of the 3-2 in the final play of a League match against Andorra. And Jesus (Owono) is the goalkeeper who jumped desperately to prevent his side from failing to earn a point on opposing ground, in a 'do-or-die' moment quite common in a context of high-level football competition (Second Division, in this case).

A mixture of fatality and recklessness has ended with the death of Jesús de Miguel due to the terrible contusion he suffered from the collision with Owono. Fatality because the blow was a knee to the chest, causing a cardiorespiratory arrest with irreversible neurological consequences. And recklessness because the Andorra player's challenge was reckless. In fact, the foul was duly punished with a straight red card and Owono now faces a suspension of up to 12 official matches due to the dangerous nature of his action.

De Miguel –and all his family, friends, and colleagues– is the evident victim of this tragic sequence. But to place Owono on the other side, almost like an executioner, is to lose sight of the fact that football is a contact sport involving split-second errors. This 25-year-old will have to carry the weight of this for the rest of his life after unintentionally causing –in an action of the game we love so much, and not while drunk on the road– the death of a fellow professional. It hurts just to write it. De Miguel does not need to be avenged with a sentence for manslaughter. It is already painful enough, all of it.

Let us focus, then, on turning this regrettable loss into a turning point to ensure it does not happen again. Let us focus on whether matches can be played in stadiums with adequate access for ambulances to enter. Or let us consider whether footballers, now that the game is more physical than ever, are sufficiently protected in case of colliding with their rivals. 30 years ago, professional cyclists descended mountain passes with no protection other than a cap. Now, however, they cannot compete without a helmet. Andrei Kivilev had to die in 2003 for them to become mandatory. Let us think about it.