Eulogy to Luca...

The dream of FC7, the idea of us being more than a club, a social gathering where we could help other people, aim higher, raise awareness all the while having fun, getting fit and playing football, it was all triggered by a sad event.

I thought it wrong to not say anything further on Luca, he was the reason why this all happened, so I wanted to say a few words on behalf of FC SE7EN and from a personal level.

I didn’t know Luca well, I wouldn’t say I was a close friend, but that’s often how football works. I never knew he had a wife, didn’t know much about his family, but the 1 thing I did know, he was a Juventus and Fulham fan. After the usual formalities of a hi and what’s your name, we spoke at length about Italian soccer daily, I told him about my love for Fiorentina’s unusual purple shirts and Roma’s passionate fans and how I followed both clubs closely in the 90s when English football’s TV coverage was cruelly taken away from the masses and terrestrial TV.

Little did I know the same would happen of our daily seemingly unimportant chit chats.

You didn’t need to know familial ties, you didn’t need to know someone’s past, you didn’t to know what they did at work. Sure, I fixed a few things here and there on his shiny new MacBook, installed a few bits of software and struggled to cable-tie his awkwardly positioned desk which he incidentally found hilarious.

All that really mattered is that we shared that 1 single passion. Footy.

During our mandatory IT inductions, I remember doing the hard sell.

“We are trying to setup a kickaround, you up for it bruv”, I said with childlike enthusiasm.

Responding, “Count me in”, in his typically upbeat voice with a strong smattering of Italian debonair.

I wouldn’t be prepared for the onslaught that followed, all in good jest though. Pretty much daily from there on in, he asked me about the progress we were making. Footballing banter would also ensue, me calling him a “Gobbo” (roughly translating to Hunchback, a term applied to Juventus fans, by the rest of the envious soccer mad peninsula’s fans) and Luca retorting back quicker than a Cruyff turn, telling me to mock him when I had finally arranged a game!

With football, everyone is on an even platform, yeah sure he was the CFO, I was the runt who fixed things round the office, but it didn’t matter. Not when it came to the beautiful game.

That’s the beauty of the sport we follow so religiously. Every team out there, from the multi-millionaires to the amateurs, all have that 1 shared dream. I haven’t done any extensive analysis, but I’m sure that football is the sport that has always had to power to pull off a major shock, more than others. From Denmark and Greece upsetting the odds to win the Euros in 1992 and 2004 to Leicester City’s miracle win of the 2015/16 EPL at odds of 5000 to 1.

Football imitates life in so many ways. Shocks happen.

As we were about to experience……

Luca had headed to hospital for what seemed like a routine check-up, a few days had passed and he had deteriorated and suddenly passed away.

We were all gathered up at work on 1 floor and told the shocking news. I’ve said before, I wasn’t close to Luca, our shared love for football being the only common thread between us. But it hit everyone hard. All those empty promises I had made, comedy at the time, but somehow so much more serious now. It made me realise how short life really was. This was honest reality hitting statement, not just a proverb to throw out during a nondescript conversation which never really meant anything to anyone. He had gone, left the pitch. Time for a testimonial.

The management had clearly stated that his family wanted us to celebrate his life, remember it, not to commiserate or drown in sorrow but create to legacy in his name. I’ve written elsewhere how we went on to organise a mini footy tournament in his memory. To finally deliver on all the failed promises I had made.

This my is our eulogy to Luca, a eulogy to football. As in life, now, afterwards, with football as our common thread we hope to continue that legacy. If we get just 1 extra person on the planet to pull on a pair of soccer boots, open just one mind to accept and enrich their own life from the many types of people who inhabit this world and raise just £1 for a good cause……..we will have cemented that legacy.

This is the Story of FC7, our journey…..and it all started here.

Luca, you have a season ticket for all our games at fc se7en, and we hope you make it to playing the odd game up there.

We’ve managed to do all this through football……the truly beautiful game.

Rest in Peace Luca...