The Day Football Came Together For Tom Lockyer

The Day Football Came Together For Tom Lockyer

On Saturday 16th December, around 11,000 people turned up to see a football match at Vitality Stadium but instead witnessed a Luton Town footballer, probably at the peak of his career, battling for his life on the bright green turf. Thankfully, at the time of writing, Tom Lockyer appears to be in a stable condition in hospital and the very real concerns of all of us present at the match have been slightly allayed.

Much has been written and said about what happened, just about all of it thoughtfully delivered with genuine concern and sincerity. Of course when people have said that, at times like this, football isn’t important they are absolutely right. Whether Bill Shankly did or didn’t utter those words about football and life & death, back in the 1960’s, is unimportant, though the hype of the modern game would suggest that some believe football to be the be all and end all of life. What was and is clear to all those in attendance yesterday and myriad others around the country is that… it isn’t.

“We are all part of a greater, football family”.

However, whilst football pauses momentarily and wishes for the full and swift recovery of Tom Lockyer, for me yesterday’s events demonstrated what I and most other genuine football fans, who attend games regularly, have always known. Whilst we are fiercely partisan and will defend our team against all criticism from outsiders, we are all part of a greater, football family.

My formative years as a match-going fan were in the 1970’s and ‘80’s. They were wild times when you needed to be street-wise and develop a sixth sense about when and where football violence was going to occur, in order to avoid it. Attending football matches gained a justifiable reputation as a dangerous past-time. Since then, the game has changed unrecognisably and for the better. Whilst it is still not without its problems football grounds are now relatively safe places to go and to take the family. We should all be thankful for that. However, for many who have no interest in the game and amongst others such as politicians, who should know better, the label of ‘football hooligans’ is still very much in their vocabulary. Yesterday’s reaction to events at the Vitality demonstrated how outdated and wrong these people are to apply this moniker to the vast majority of present-day fans.

When Tom Lockyer collapsed on the pitch, the reaction of the players, and Phil Billing in particular, alerted everyone to the fact that this wasn’t a standard footballing injury but something much, much worse. A football stadium can be a riotous, cacophony of different sounds during the 90 minutes of a match but I don’t think I’ve witnessed anything like the eerie silence that descended on that part of Bournemouth in the late afternoon. It’s something I never want to experience again.

For 20-30 minutes, it didn’t matter whether you were a home or away fan. All vestiges of club loyalty and rivalry were stripped away almost as soon as Tom Lockyer fell to the ground. Whether he was one of your own or an opposition player who had made your afternoon a lot harder than you’d anticipated, it didn’t matter. Luton or Bournemouth? Who cared.

At that moment, we all remembered that there are things more important in life than football. But we also recognised that we are part of a bigger, football family. I travel to most games home and away and meet countless fans from different clubs at service stations en route to the game and in pubs in whichever town we happen to be playing. I’ve had great chats with people who I have never met before and will likely never meet again about our relative teams and unless (but often even when) we happen to be playing each other that day, the conversation usually ends with a heartfelt, “Good luck today.” Indeed, we had one such a conversation with a couple of Luton fans in the pub before yesterday’s ill-fated game.

Clearly, we all know that there are many, many things more important in life than football and our football teams and yesterday’s events reminded us all of that undeniable fact. However, they also illustrated how, when we strip away all the talk, bluster and hype of the modern game, football fans are good, decent, empathetic people. The players and officials of both clubs recognised this with their decision to walk around and applaud all four sides of the ground once the game had been abandoned. Nobody present could not have been affected by this or the sight of the admirable Rob Edwards as they all showed their joint recognition and appreciation of the football family who shared their concern for Tom Lockyer.

“I witnessed the true spirit of football and the wider football family yesterday… something we don’t witness as often as we’d maybe like.”

As with life, football will go on, with hostilities being well and truly resumed just 24 hours later at games around the country. Hopefully, they all pass off without any untoward incidents. The horror of what I and other witnessed at the Vitality yesterday is something I hope no other players or fans have to experience ever again. However, I also know that I witnessed the true spirit of football and the wider football family yesterday. It is something we don’t witness as often as maybe we’d like but it was a demonstration that it does, truly exist.

To all the players, officials and fans of Luton, all AFC Bournemouth fans will be joining with you in wishing for the speedy and full recovery of your player and captain Tom Lockyer. Our thoughts will be with Tom and his family at this difficult time. And we look forward to seeing you again soon, maybe at the Vitality again or perhaps Kenilworth Road. Wherever it happens to be, the match will be between two teams eager to bag all three points. However, it will equally be about two families; the Lockyers and the Hatters/Cherries family forged by the events of 16th December 2023.