Pedro Berruezo died on the pitch for Sevilla FC back in 1973 from cardiac arrest at the age of 27. He finished his career with 135 caps for Sevilla and 38 goals. I remember hearing about this, but never really knew the details until today.
It got me wondering, why we do not chant his name during the match much like we do with Peurta?
It also got me wondering, why after passing out in three matches before the fatal match, was he not benched and thoroughly studied. Maybe he had been as medicine wasn’t nearly as sophisticated as today, but it just seems a shame that this might have been prevented.
Yep - it made me wonder when portable defibrillators were developed. That wasn’t until 1970 and I bet they were so damn expensive at the time that only hospitals had them.
In the 1960’s and 70’s people tended to be more philosophical about death in sport because it was a bit more frequent in Bullfighting. Believe it or not, that was the response of some people to Puerta.
Puerta’s case was difficult to take, best I don’t say too much. He was fainting regularly in training and always got up and played on. The fact that he had a congenital heart defect escaped the doctors. His brother also played for Sevilla and had to quit because he had the same rare defect. The son he never saw, Aitor, will be 15 or 16 now, I hope he’s clear, don’t hear much about him.
Except for the annual Puerta memorial game. I do believe he is in the SFC academy, or at least was at one point. How epic would it be if he could fulfill his father’s legacy at Sevilla!
