What may have been lost in the aftermath of the Premier League matches played on Wednesday was a touching gesture by Chelsea FC legend Frank Lampard. The veteran midfielder sought out youngster Oliver Shenton to swap shirts with him after the final whistle and the reason why is what made this so beautiful.
Shenton had lost his mother to cancer just a few days prior and as a gesture to try and cheer up the lad, Stoke City manager Mark Hughes included him in the match day squad. He asked the youngster if he would like to be included in the squad to try and help him forget the bad news and he accepted his manager’s offer.
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Oliver Shenton was brought on for just the final seconds of the match but he made his senior debut in the Premier League debut at just 17 years old. After the final whistle blew, Stoke striker Peter Crouch told Frank Lampard about what happened to the lad’s mother and he spoke to him briefly and swapped shirts with him.
Lampard could certainly sympathize with the youngster as he also lost his mother at a young age. His mother Pat Lampard passed away in April 2008 to pneumonia and Frank played much of the season, as he described it, in a haze. Her death inspired Lampard to do great things in a Chelsea shirt that season and it lead to one of the most dramatic and touching moments you will ever see on a football pitch.
It is these types of gestures and moments that we see in football that remind us that it is all just a game. Life is much bigger than football and the men and boys who play it suffer loss just like the rest of us. Many Chelsea fans were bashing on Frank Lampard for the Manchester City and NYC FC debacle but this small gesture proved that he is above all of that.
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We may sit back and criticize what he did on the pitch this season for Manchester City and feel that he left us in the lurch by signing with them. However we must remember that Frank Lampard has proven time and time again to be a good man both on and off the pitch.
By reaching out to this youngster he may have done more for him than all the condolences he has received since his mother’s passing. Just by lending a sympathetic ear and handing him his shirt, he showed us all what kind of a man he truly is.