Piermario Morosini's death was tragedy that not only Livorno sufferedCase of 25-year-old midfielder had many similarities with the recent Fabrice Muamba affair, although this time there was no happy ending
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Fans pay their respects to Piermario Morosini near a banner outside his home ground in Livorno. Photograph: Laura Lezza/Getty Images
The world was not watching when Piermario Morosini fell. Pescara's match against Livorno on Saturday was available to supporters with the right TV subscription packages, but it would require a fairly dedicated neutral to tune in for a game between fourth and 16th in Serie B. In any case, many of those in the stadium did not initially notice when the Livorno midfielder collapsed face first on to the turf midway through the first half at the Stadio Adriatico.
The world would catch up – footage of the fall being posted and reposted across social media sites within minutes of the incident. Minutes that felt like hours to those who were seeing events unfold live, as frantic workers were forced to break into and then move a car that had been left unattended and was blocking the entrance to the pitch, blocking the path of an ambulance that was to take Morosini to the nearby Santo Spirito hospital.
For anybody who had witnessed Fabrice Muamba's fall at White Hart Lane a month earlier, the scene was horrifically familiar. Morosini had been yards away from the ball and in no contact with an opponent when he simply collapsed, his arms falling limp by his side with no effort to break the fall. Unlike Muamba he did briefly seem to regain strength, climbing back to his knees before slumping immediately back down.
The similarities with Muamba's case did not end there, as Morosini received treatment on the pitch from a doctor – Leonardo Paloscia, head of cardiology at Santo Spirito hospital – who had simply happened to be in the stands watching as a fan. But unlike the Bolton player, Morosini could not pull through. He was declared dead a little over an hour and a half later, having failed to respond to treatment on the pitch, in the ambulance or when he arrived at hospital. He was 25.
The match was abandoned as soon as the ambulance departed but as news of his death broke, the Italian Football Federation decided that all of the weekend's remaining games in Serie A, Serie B and Lega Pro should also be postponed. For Milan and Genoa that meant abandoning warm-ups just minutes before the scheduled kick-off in their game at San Siro.
There was no protest from the players – several of whom appeared stricken by grief – but not everyone was happy with the decision. A small number of supporters jeered the announcement, with some protesting on Gazzetta dello Sport's online TV channel that they had spent large sums on tickets plus travel – while also asking why matches should be stopped now if not every time an Italian soldier was killed in action.
If that sounded heartless, it was also unrealistic. This was a tragedy felt more widely and more keenly by those inside the football community than those outside it. Unlike almost any soldier, Morosini was known personally by members of almost every team in the league. A product of the Atalanta youth system, he had been on Udinese's books since 2005 but played for five different clubs on loan and also represented Italy at every level from Under-17 up to Under-21.
From across the country there were reports of players collapsing in team hotels and meeting rooms as news reached them. Morosini's life was one already marked by tragedy – his mother having passed away when he was 15, and his father at 17, while his brother, who was severely disabled, had taken his own life in the intervening year. His one remaining sister is also physically handicapped and is reported to require constant care.
And yet the accounts of Morosini told by his many friends in football are all of a man who was one of the warmest and most cheerful they had ever come across. The Udinese owner Giampaolo Pozzo described him as a "model professional" while Marco Andreolli, a Chievo player who knew him from the Italian youth team, said: "He taught us how to smile every single day in life, even when the latter seemed to have turned its back on him."
Morosini had acknowledged the difficulty of his circumstances in an interview with Guerin Sportivo back in 2005. "I have often asked myself why all this happened to me, but I never get an answer and that just makes it hurt more," he said. "But life goes on. These are things that mark you and change you. But at the same time they give you the drive to do everything you can, and in my case to realise dreams that belonged to my parents as well as me. I want to become a great footballer for them more than anything, because I know how happy they would be."
Recent messages posted on his Twitter account tell of a happy young man who seemingly found joy in everything – be it an energetic dog, a Tuscan sunset, or an old man singing in a supermarket. In one tweet from just last week he is pictured grinning broadly with his arm around his girlfriend Anna Vavassori, a volleyball player from Bergamo, with whom he had been making plans to buy a house.
For one so full of life to pass away so young is difficult to comprehend. Italian football has long been proud of its heart screening processes – Roberto Mancini had expressed surprise that English systems weren't so stringent after Muamba's collapse – with players obliged to undergo tests at least twice a year.
Such measures have been introduced since the death on the pitch of Perugia's Renato Curi in October 1977. None had passed away in similar circumstances since, with the Italian authorities proudly pointing to the cases of players such as Nwankwo Kanu, who was obliged to take a break from playing and undergo heart surgery after a defect was spotted in a routine examination. A cardiologist, Eurgenio Martuscelli, is quoted in La Repubblica describing the Italian system as "the most severe and rigorous in the world", adding: "it is impossible to imagine checks any more strict than the ones that are already in place."
And yet Morosini's death has arrived within just five months of Antonio Cassano undergoing heart surgery that was only prompted by a mini-stroke he suffered returning from a match at the end of October. It also comes hot on the heels of the death of a volleyball player, Vigor Bovolenta, who passed away last month after collapsing during a match. "In Italy people die of sport," writes Sebastiano Vernazza in Gazzetta dello Sport – noting that such instances are far higher in amateur games than people realise.
It has been claimed, in turn, that it is not the screening but the emergency response which needs to be improved – with Corriere della Sera's Massimo De Luca arguing that every sporting centre in the country should have a defibrillator. "It is not acceptable that we should worry about, for example, the standard of lighting inside stadiums being good enough for TV, and yet not worry about how to save the lives of the participants and spectators," he writes.
In Morosini's case it is not known yet what caused his death, with initial reports suggesting a heart attack or aneurysm, but doctors insisting we will not know until after an autopsy. That has not stopped people from demanding answers. How quickly was a defibrillator available to the doctors on the pitch? Where were the traffic police whose car was parked across the entrance? Why was there not a full-time cardiologist on hand? In other words, could more have been done?
All of these matters should, and will, be investigated in due course. The Players' Association, Football Federation and Minister of Sport have all promised to review existing policies. But the truth is that we simply don't know the answers to any of these questions, and there is a danger that in the rush to accuse we lose sight of what actually matters. On Saturday afternoon a young, bright and warm human being lost his life. And no quantity of blame assigned is going to bring him back.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog/2012/apr/15/piermario-morosini-livorno-serie-b-italy------------------
Udinese look after Morosini's sisterBy Football Italia staff
Udinese have confirmed they will look after Piermario Morosini’s sister, who relied on the player for financial and emotional support.
Morosini was under contract with Udinese and on loan at Livorno when he died during Saturday’s Serie B game with Pescara.
The 25-year-old had a very difficult life, as he lost both his parents before turning 18 and his disabled brother committed suicide.
The only remaining family member is his sister, who is also gravely ill and relied upon him for financial support.
Udinese and captain Antonio Di Natale have now confirmed they will ensure Morosini’s sister is looked after.
“He was an exceptional lad, so full of life. Despite all the problems he had, he was always at the disposal of the team and every day gave us all strength,” said Di Natale.
“I lost my mother four years ago and, as he had already been through this, he was very close to me. Watching the images on television was shocking. He wanted to get back up, but fell again. When seeing that, all you can do is pray the Lord will give you a hand.
“He wanted so much to live and find success, for himself, for the family he no longer had and his sister. I immediately said we could not play last night, as it wasn’t right. I compliment Inter and the FIGC for making that decision, as on a day like this football becomes impossible.”
Livorno and his girlfriend Anna released a statement thanking “all those who in these hours of pain have been close to us in their memories of a great athlete and a special person.”
http://football-italia.net/17735/udinese-look-after-morosinis-sister
