When I started writing this for this blog I never thought that one of my very first posts would have such a serious undertone, yet already after just 2 games a shadow has been cast over the tournament in the form of the proceedings during the Denmark v Finland match.
Firstly, I'd like to give my thoughts on the single incident that it likely to leave its mark from this tournament, more so than any other - the horrific collapse of Cristian Eriksen during the aforementioned game. The whole incident brought home to many people that, although passions can run so high during tournaments, human life is far more important and occurrences like this just highlight that fact in a very stark way.
Regardless of nationality, I cant imagine any fans were not touched by what happened as the drama unfolded, and the behaviour of the fans of both teams in the stadium highlighted that the brotherhood of being a football fan rises above all rivalries and differences.
Primarily the fact that Eriksen is alive and seems to be on the road to recovery is paramount, and my best wishes go out to him, his family and his teammates who all had to deal with something that you could never be prepared for.
There's been a lot of praise in the media for medical staff (quite rightly too) but I think they aren't the only heroes in this situation. The teammates of Eriksen (and the Finnish players) quite possibly saved his life with their reaction and actions before the medical team even arrived with the player. I honestly think if they hadn't reacted so fast it may well have been a much worse outcome, and they deserve to be recognised for how they handled the situation.
The officials also deserve a lot of praise for their handling of the situation, again prompt action and decisions stopped the situation from ending up any worse than it did.
Finally, as mentioned, the fans from both sides were immense. Such a show of solidarity is regrettably rare at football grounds - these two sets of fans did true football fans around the world proud with their show of unified support.
The BBC here in the UK have been given a lot of stick for showing the in stadium footage for as long as they did but I think there are a couple of mitigating factors here that need to be considered before piling the blame at their door. No doubt my views may be seen as controversial by some but I've never been afraid to speak my mind!
Its important to point out that the pictures from the stadium are not direct from the BBC but are from a third party, so they have no control over what is shown within the stadium. People have said that they could have simply cut away to the studio sooner, but a part of me feels like that would have been as bad, when they did finally cut back it was clear that the presenters were deeply affected, Alex Scott was almost unable to talk and the rest of the crew were in shock, so putting that pressure on them would have been a bit unfair. If it were the ITV I would have said an ad break would have been the right call, but that's not an option for the BBC. I think they managed it the best they could, and regardless of what they did it would have been wrong.
If there's one part of this whole episode I disagree with its the playing of the second half. What emotional trauma that must have put on all those players (and I know they chose to play it, so don't shoot me down for saying that). I have read (and I don't know how much is true) that they were put under quite a bit of pressure to get the game finished asap, and if that is the case the biggest baddie in this whole thing is UEFA - however I don't know how much truth there is to those rumours so I will reserve judgement.
Lets hope this is the only negative point in what is shaping up to be a brilliant tournament, and continue to offer our thoughts and prayers to Eriksen as he starts down the road to recovery. Get well soon Christian.
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