Fran Kirby, Kelechi Iheanacho and Footballers as People

At the very top, football is ruthless. A football fan's mind is where folklore and fables are filed but it's inside those white lines they are formed. Not all names are etched into the chronicles fans compile from season to season in their memory. The easiest way to creep into those pages is being a huge part of huge huge moments.

And 2 very special moments were formed on Sunday…

Sunday was Mother's Day. A day set aside to celebrate the wonderful gift that was our passage into life. And our blanket through most of the rainy days. 2 games kicked off by 2pm local time and by their respective ends there was a fitting tribute to mother's all over the world. Fran Kirby and Kelechi Iheanacho both scored for their teams and walked away with player of the match awards but they share something deeper than that. Two global superstars who lost their mothers aged 14 and looked into the sky after scoring. Is it a coincidence both wear the number 14 on their jerseys? Possibly. But the weight of the number on their jersey is heavy. Maybe it's an ode to their strife. So as those brief gazes but nevertheless, piercing glances of raw emotion met the clouds, what were they thinking. "Are you proud of me?" "Is this what you wanted?" "I wish you were here." We may never be privy to what thoughts were in their heads. 

Fran scored 2 and assisted 4 in Chelsea's Conti Cup final win over Bristol City. It was a divine performance. Something she's spoiled Chelsea fans with this season. I'm not going to retell the Fran Kirby story. It's been told brilliantly by Maryam Naz Mnaz98 on Twitter in this compelling article here. As Maryam points out, "nobody teaches us how to deal with loss." There's no lecture on surviving the loss of your mother at 14, let alone thriving. Fran lost her mother who was the anchor of her career path. She overcame that and stuck at it. In early 2020, pericarditis was the next hurdle. Months out with a rare condition and she overcame it. In this recent interview with ESPN, she talks about how she told Emma Hayes that she wanted to earn that spot back. Surely the universe rewarded her effort, application and talent with an immensely successful career but her story is one that should be shared. It's an inspiration, a wake up call and above all, proof that we can always find strength to bounce back.

If you pause at just the right moment, you would catch Iheanacho tearing up as he celebrated his third goal. Watch his interview and your respect for him would treble almost instantly. Breathless as he humbly thanked God, manager and staff for helping on his journey. But before he finished, the Nigerian striker dedicated his hat trick to all mothers "so they will continue to take care of us". 

noKelechi hasn't had his mother around to take care of him since he was 14. It's not his first reference to her in an interview either. In 2013, still 15, he had just scored 4 goals for Nigeria's under 17 team to help them qualify for the World Cup (which he would bring home a winner's medal and Golden Boot from) when he dedicated them to his late mother.

“I remember my mother today and I wished she is alive to witness this; may God grant her good rest,” 

I'll like to imagine that when his eyes looked into the sky, she teared up and her chest was clogged with pride. Nigerians will always feel a sense of attachment and pride when they look at footballers like Kelechi. The ones who grew up here with us and didn't have the best pro training in foreign academies. It's not a slight on those who chose Nigeria because the realized there was no realistic prospect of playing for their second nationality, it's just easier to identify with the struggle of Kels. Back up to 2 of the best strikers of modern Premier League history, in Aguero and Vardy, at his 2 clubs so far the criticism would always be about boots being too big for him to fill without given a proper chance to step into those boots and let his feet relax before he's pulled back out. 

I was sat there as Maren Mjelde's shriek and screams pierced through my phone. Maren Mjelde was the one who caught a dizzy Fran Kirby as she fell. The emotion that must have drawn from Fran would be overwhelming. Loud echoes in an empty stadium as one of your best friends goes down in pain. 

Fran holding up Mjelde's shirt 

Kelechi himself lost his own best friend in 2019. A car crash that took his life instantly, while he was on his way home in Nigeria. Where do they learn to rise above these lows? Nowhere just like us. 

Kelechi and his late friend, David.

Footballers are famous people but famous is just an adjective, they're people first. People with families, pasts, hobbies, cares, emotions, strengths, weakness, bright days and sad hours just like all of us. It's a relatively short career more often than not with good pay at the highest level. The world hasn't figured out a way to pay for bad and completely negative experiences to never happen again. Science hasn't presented yet, an instant relief to mental struggles and death. So just like you and I, footballers (even the richest) can't have that. Footballers don't have to constantly live their lives to fulfil your fantasies as you watch on from your TV or the stands. If I'm an architect I would leave my firm to earn more if it meant I could do more for my family. Even if it was in China. Why can't a footballer do the same without judgement?

It's a very common question in many spheres of football. "Why can't football be like…" In place of the ellipses insert any sport or occupation under the sun and more often than not it's a question that's legitimately been asked. From financial regulation to personal player decisions, football is constantly having to explain why it's sometimes there's sense in sticking to the norm and other times there isn't. It's a sport that gives us remarkables career arches, narratives, failures, redemption tales and all. Football gives us everything and we ride the crests and swim the troughs. 

To Kelechi, Fran and everyone who's suffered loss and soldiered on to achieve their dreams, your struggle and story will be the foundation on which many dreams are built. 💙