Invisiblewall.net: Gilberto Silva News

I found this little tid-bit of a story on this week’s [usually terrible, this week not so much] Football365 Mailbag.

The piece was written by an Arsenal supporting chap named Andy who lives in Colchester. He said:

It’s interesting, given the amount of abuse the Arsenal medical staff get (particularly from Gooner Pete Gill on this site I’ve noticed) to read an article in the Mail today (I wouldn’t normally give the rag the time of day but someone sent me a link) which says that Eduardo’s career was saved by the actions of Arsenal physio Gary Lewin.

To paraphrase, Lewin had the presence of mind to call on Gilberto as an interpreter for Eduardo, understanding that Eduardo would revert to his native Portuguese given the amount of distress he was in. Having someone on who spoke the same language enabled Lewin to then carry out his work while making sure Gilberto could communicate with Eduardo to tell him what to do and what would happen, and also to relax Eduardo and ensuring he was not put in any further danger while they moved him off the pitch.

Apparently the problem was also exacerbated by the fact that in these instances it is usually easier to treat a player on his back with legs outstretched. Eduardo was curled up on his side and couldn’t be moved, making the job even harder.

While I understand that often the Arsenal medical team come in for a lot of stick for supposedly rushing back players who aren’t ready (e.g. Gallas and Henry last season, van Persie this), I feel it’s time that credit be given to Gary Lewin for his actions in this case. Of course there’s still a huge amount of work to be done and it’s not yet certain whether Eduardo will ever return to top-flight football, Lewin’s professionalism (and while that word is used way too frequently in football laughably to refer to the actions of the players it certainly applies here) made that initial period for Eduardo, and Arsenal, a lot better.

Good work Gary.

I’d also like to draw everyone’s attention to the other hero in the story – Gilberto – for his amazing skills of translation. Well done, Gilberto.

Also, another note in the defence of Gary Lewin – he has done heroic rescues like this one many times before. Most recently, with Peter Cech – when he reacted quickly to stop the Chelsea goalkeeper choking on his throat. There’s probably been, like, billions of others, too, which I’m too lazy to remember or look up.

Yeah.

Edit: I have since found the above story on The Sun website: Click for article.