Grief doesn’t stop football. Despite the death of Aaron Boupendza on Wednesday April 16, his club, Zhejiang FC played its Super League (1st division) match at home against Meizhou Hakka the same evening. A decision that affected the supporters and his teammates.
“Shouldn’t this match have been postponed?” wrote one user on the social network Weibo.
“The Super League is really very amateurish,” said another Internet user.
The match ended with a score of 2-2. It took place in a heavy atmosphere, without any of the club’s other foreign players participating.
“Football has no place in such a context”
Supporters chanted Boupendza’s name, held up his jersey or even turned on the flashlight function of their mobile phones, before seeing the players and staff of Zhejiang FC go to meet them after the match, for a tribute to Aaron Boupendza.
Zhejiang FC captain Cheng Jin, visibly scarred, politely cut short his television interview: “I’m sorry, that’s no disrespect to you. But I really don’t have anything to say,” he said.
The club’s Spanish coach, Raul Caneda, said at a press conference after the match that he had “nothing to say about the match”. “Football has no place in such a context,” he explained through an interpreter.
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Gabonese international (35 caps, 8 goals), Aaron Boupendza first played in France (Pau, Gazélec Ajaccio, Tours). He then played for Hatayspor (Turkey), Al-Arabi (Qatar) as well as FC Cincinnati (United States) and Rapid Bucharest (Romania) before joining Zhejiang FC in January.
Hangzhou police confirmed the death of Aaron Boupendza, saying they had “ruled out any criminal leads” after an investigation that included interrogations and review of CCTV footage. The 28-year-old footballer fell from the 11th floor of a building in the megacity of Hangzhou (southeast China), where the club is based.
Zhejiang FC released a statement saying they were “fully cooperating with authorities in the investigation” into the player’s death. “All members of the club extend their deepest condolences to his family,” he added.
With AFP
