The tragedy in Columbia last week – which saw one of Brazil’s leading teams almost entirely wiped out in a plane crash – has stunned the world of football.

The Chapecoense squad was flying to Columbia to take part in their first ever Copa Sudamericana final against Atletico Nacional when their plane crashed in a mountainous region. Of the 81 people on board only six survived – just three of them players – leaving football in Brazil, South America and the world in mourning.

I would be lying if I said I knew much about Chapecoense before the crash. And I imagine most of you are the same.

But, by all accounts they were having a fairy tale season that included reaching this fateful cup final, a competition similar to our Europa League.

As the extent of the disaster became apparent, Atletico Nacional asked the South American football association CONMEBOL to name Chapecoense as winners of the Cope Sudamericana as a tribute to those who died.

The emotional and mental repercussions of this accident will be far and long-lasting. Can you imagine how the handful of Chapecoense first-team players who weren’t on that flight are feeling? They cheated death but lost most of their friends and team mates in the process.

And the club’s fans will be struggling to come to terms with the fact that they have lost their heroes. What should have been the greatest week in the club’s history is now shrouded in despair and disbelief.

Eventually, when the mourning is over, there will be the rebuilding. But how does a football club recover from something like this? They didn’t just lose their players, they lost many of their support staff, coaches and directors too.

Other teams in the Brazilian top flight have offered to loan them players and some have even asked for Chapecoense to be exempt from relegation for the next few years.

Great gestures that show football does have the ability to rally round in times of crisis. But rebuilding this club, physically and emotionally, is a process that will take decades.

It really is a heartbreaking story, of that there is no doubt. And, as football fans, it has increased significance for us. Hopefully it will help us all maintain some sort of perspective the next time our team wins or loses. No matter what Bill Shankly might have said, football is never more important than life or death. Never.

A very costly fortnight for Tony Pulis

Tony Pulis has got himself into a rather expensive pickle.

The current West Bromwich Albion manager lost a court case last week against Crystal Palace, meaning he now has to pay his former club £3.7 million in damages.

The issue dates back to when Pulis was in charge of the Selhurst Park club in the 2013-14 season. As part of his contract he was promised a £2 million bonus provided he kept Palace up and stayed in charge of the team until August 31. He comfortably managed the former but failed miserably with the latter.

It turns out Pulis approached the Crystal Palace management asking them to pay his bonus early as he was planning to use the money to buy property for his children. Seeing as he had just saved them from relegation and seemed happy at the club, they agreed. So on August 12 they gave him the money. Forty-eight hours later he left.

Now obviously there could be some legitimate explanation for all this. Pulis may genuinely believe he acted appropriately and ethically.

But the High Court didn’t believe him. And frankly, neither would I.

The stupid thing is he didn’t even leave Palace for another club – he was out of work for the next few months. So why on earth didn’t he just shut up and hang in there for another couple of weeks?

He had done the hard part of the job – keeping the club up. Sitting in his office twiddling his thumbs for a few more days should have been comparatively easy.

Pulis is either a very silly man or there is much more to this story than meets the eye.

Either way, it will all come out in time – Pulis is going to have to write several biographies to pay that bill…

Good day, bad day

Everyone has days when things go right and others when everything seems to go wrong. But Carlisle United striker Charlie Wyke appears to have mastered the art of mixing the two.

In the space of just a few hours, 23-year-old Wyke’s Twitter account was hacked by dodgy Russians, his house burgled and his father’s van stolen. Had that been it then it’s fairly safe to say it would have been one of the most miserable days of his life.

But in between all that, Wyke al­most managed to score his first ever professional hat-trick in the 5-2 win over Mansfield Town; a win that took them to the top of League Two.

It’s hard to tell whether Wyke has taken a few steps up the career ladder or walked underneath it…

Your say

“As you rightly say, F1 is not as popular a sport as it once used to be, even here in Malta. The reason for this, in my opinion, is that it is now predictable, with whole seasons dominated by particular teams.

“You could argue that it has al­ways been this way and I suppose it has. Maybe it’s just me but I find that I have better things to do with my time these days than watch a race where the outcome is pre-determined, barring retirements, rain or crashes.” Arthur Portelli, e-mail.

“You want to know what the problem with F1 is? It’s just not a proper sport. I don’t watch it very often these days but I decided to watch yesterday’s race after reading your article.

“As there was so much to win with two drivers fighting for the title it was not completely boring, but the fact that Lewis Hamilton had to defy team orders to make it exciting proves the point.

“To make matters worse he could now be punished for defying team orders. The whole point of motor racing is to try and be the best, and that is what Hamilton was trying to do. If the teams are allowed to tell drivers what to do and tell them when they have to give up fighting in the interest of the team then that is when it becomes boring.

“I doubt I will be watching many races next season.” M. Borg, e-mail.

“We live in Malta from September to March and spend the rest of the time in England. We used to be able to see all the races live on BBC1, but F1 then switched to ITV where, although they showed all the races live, we had to endure adverts that were usually on at a crucial moment in the race.

“When F1 returned to BBC1 they didn’t show every race live so we often had to make do with highlights later in the day. Now that it’s on Channel 4 we still only get to see some of the races live and they put the highlights on quite late at night.

“F1 was in the doldrums during the eras of Michael Schumacher, then Sebastian Vettel at Red Bull when the races became a procession, and it is getting a bit that way now with Mercedes’ dominance, although other teams, like Red Bull and Ferrari, are starting to show signs of catching them up.

“Even so, the outcome of races have become so predictable that, coupled with late night highlights, you have to ask yourself whether it’s worth waiting up for.

“The final race of the season that has just ended race was exciting but it was a pity that Hamilton adopted the tactics that he did – it makes a mockery of being in a team, although F1 is unique in having ‘teams’ where drivers compete against each other.

“I did wonder whether Vettel and Max Verstappen purposely didn’t overtake Nico Rosberg as they would have gained very little and would have destroyed Rosberg’s championship.

“The bottom line is, I think, that Bernie Ecclestone has become too greedy so that it is not so readily available on TV.” Geoff White, Kalkara.

sportscolumnist@timesofmalta.com
Twitter: @maltablade

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