Eden Hazard took part last weekend in the Marcha Herrada, in Cuenca. An amateur cycling race, in Spain. Bib 378. C.D. Bomberos de Madrid jersey. He did all of it: 5 hours, 13 minutes and 18 seconds. 513th. I read it at the chip shop on Monday, in my weekly paper. The score hadn’t changed.
He stopped playing football in 2023. He is 35. He rides a bike among hundreds of others. According to Voetbalkrant, almost nobody noticed him for most of the race.
Here, at last, is something I approve of.
In my day, a footballer who stopped went home. He opened a café, or he opened nothing. You ran into him at the market. You said hello. He said hello. No photo. No article. In 1980, that would never have happened, an article about a man riding a bike.
And yet it happened. The organisers shared a photo of him after the race. The Spanish media followed. Five hours of silence, then a photo. I’m not criticising. I’m comparing.
I like the bib. 378. One number among hundreds. Like before, when you recognised a player by the way he ran.
513th, Marcel. Don’t tell me that’s good.
I told her that 513th out of hundreds, riding all the way to the end, is arriving. She said it was historic. Then that it was a disgrace. I went back to my paper cone of chips.
He rode for C.D. Bomberos de Madrid, after playing for Real Madrid and Chelsea. He finished the race. Well. It’s the times, and for once they did well.
It’s true, we checked: Voetbalkrant.
