Scotland Loses a Beloved Captain—Phil O'Donnell

Although I missed writing over the last three weeks, what I did do was submerge myself in Scotland's football fever. How I long to eat, drink, and sleep football 365 days a year.

Down here in South Africa it just isn't that big of a deal, with rugby and cricket taking most of the headlines. Having said all that though, there is a time when sport just doesn't matter.

Having been away, I'm unsure what coverage the tragic death of Motherwell Captain Phil O'Donnell has received on this site or in your own countries. But here is what I have to say.

I was at Ibrox on boxing day watching my beloved Rangers take on a spirited Motherwell side, who frankly played us off the park. We escaped with a flattering 3-1 win, but I couldn't help feeling there were good times ahead for Motherwell.

And for 70 minutes on Saturday, Dec. 29 I was proven right, as Motherwell hammered Dundee United 5-2 at Fir Park. Sadly though, it was destined to be a dark, dark day in Scotland.

Shortly after complaining of tiredness, 35-year-old Phil O'Donnell collapsed on the pitch moments before he was due to be substituted. It was apparent from his fellow players reactions that there was a serious problem.

O' Donnell's nephew David Clarkson, who had scored earlier in the game for Motherwell, was subbed with his uncle as he was in some distress.

The game carried on though and Dundee United scored a third late on, but no one had the stomach for football anymore. Most fans heard on the radio shortly after 5 p.m. that their legendary captain had in fact died in what was another very sad day for Scottish football.

I was in the pub when the news came up on the screen and no one could quite believe it. The nation as a whole was plunged into mourning as the news spread of the tragedy. We immediately clinked our glasses together in a toast to his life.

We now know it was in it's most basic guise, heart failure, and I want to add my support to the introduction of more severe medical checks for players as O'Donnell's wife and four children sit at home tonight without a husband and a father. When things like this happen, sport is just not worth a dam!

Having gone from knowing very little about a man, to reading his colleagues and football commentators glowing appraisals of him, it is clear he was a true Motherwell hero!

Over his career he was also a 1.75 million pound signing for Celtic where he played five years of his career before a troubled time with Sheffield Wednesday in England. Somehow he saved some of his best football for his final spell with Motherwell where he had originally made his name, winning the 1991 Scottish Cup as a talented 19 year old.

He was laid to rest last Friday in the same cemetery as another great player, cut down by illness at a tragically young age—Davie Cooper.

They came from far and wide for his funeral in Hamilton (just outside Glasgow) and as the priest kindly said, "God must have needed a captain."