Sporting Heroes
Eddie Edgar
By Jim Pearson, 5 Jan 2007
Anyone concerned with or involved in schools football or boys' club knows, I am sure, that there are always a few parents who are a "nightmare"! Their Johnny should be in the team, he should be playing in the middle, he should be captain, in fact Johnny is a super-star in the making!
So, how would Johnny's dad deal with this?
His son is making his home debut at St. James' Park for Newcastle United against the league leaders, the mighty Manchester United, he is playing out of position, he is in direct opposition to Ronaldo, who is in the best form of his life and "scoring for fun"---and, not only does he put in a magnificent performance, but to cap it all, he scores the equaliser from 25 yards in a 2-2 draw.
Pure fantasy? No, this is exactly what happened to 19 year-old David Edgar last week.
His father is an ex-pro who played in goal for Newcastle, so how does he feel?
Well, having met him a few times recently, I am delighted to report that he is nothing like Johnny's dad! Eddie is playing it really low-key no matter how ecstatic he is for his son.
"I am delighted and proud of my lad but, let's be honest, this is only the start and I know how difficult it was in my time, never mind now, with players being brought in from all corners of the world for mega sums of money."
Eddie did admit to having a tear in his eye and he did indulge in a couple of glasses of the bubbly stuff later that night!
He went on to say.
"The highlight for David was when he received a text from his hero Alan Shearer, to congratulate him on his great performance and not just because of the goal that he scored."
Eddie Edgar now lives in Canada and David is a regular for Canada Under 20's.
He summed it up by saying, "I live and work in Canada but I hope David is playing regularly enough for me to make some so-called business trips to Newcastle for some week-end meetings!"
Well done David; and well done Eddie for taking it all in his stride.
» top | more articles | 
| 
| shown 266 times
