Pele RIP

[Ken Gargett]

very sad to hear of the passing of Pele. 

i am too young (not often i say that) to have seen much of him and when i was young, soccer was a fairly minor sport. the ABC would show some black and white highlights on monday evening of the EPL or whatever it was then. think i liked the opening music more than the highlights. 

but i did see the occasional highlight package of what pele could do. for me, none better. you can have maradona, messi, ronaldo and the rest. for me, pele is the finest player who ever lived. did some truly extraordinary things. the one that sticks is a goal he actually missed but to set it up was the most audacious move i have ever seen on a soccer field. just brilliant. especially when one thinks of what he achieved as a teenager playing for teams and in leagues where players did not receive quite the level of protection they do today. 

RIP. 

as an aside, some years back, i had a late night meeting with the head somm at the versace hotel on the gold coast (we could not schedule it earlier than about midnight as he was locked into service until then). walking through the main reception/lounge/bar area, saw someone that rang a bell - at the bar with another guy having a drink - but i could not place him. was trying to work it out and got about six steps before i realised it was Pele. turned back and he smiled and waved and i waved back. 

mentioned to the somm, who knew he was in residence, that i wished i had said hello and shaken his hand. the somm laughed and said i would not have got within twenty feet of him. minders everywhere. he also said that someone in the hotel was in huge trouble as he was there on rehab and staff was explicitly prohibited from serving him a drink. he certainly seemed happy. can't have been easy being a living legend. 

[cgoodrich]

I had just turned 8 when he won his last World Cup. I remember seeing the highlight reels in our PE (physical education) class, it made all of us young boys want to be Pelé. I found joy watching soccer from that point on when most of my friends loved American football or baseball. He forever changed the game and left a high bar I think none shall ever eclipse in my lifetime.

RIP Edson Arantes do Nascimento.

[Webbo]

Pele did it first.......

https://twitter.com/deanobri1968/status/1608560926071955456?s=20&t=P1kowqOIdfPeQLKzLxPJgA

[ha_banos]

Good to see his absence from lists such as this https://syndication.bleacherreport.com/amp/1158449-25-biggest-divers-in-world-football-history.amp.html

 

This is why there will not be similar legends these days onwards. Back in the day was the run where today it's the dive.

 

RIP legend

[BrightonCorgi]

Flags are at half mast in my town.  I have to admit I was teary eyed when I heard the news and reading an obituary.  He was the first mega-athlete I knew of as a kid.

Only a few athletes or celebrities deaths have stirred as much emotion in me on their passing as Pele. 

RIP Pele.  Only a handful of people have had such a positive impact on world as him.

[BoliDan]

Legend 

[MoeFOH]

RIP Legend. ❤️🙏

I don't believe you can ever truly define a single GOAT. But Pele will never drop out of that conversation. 

[Ken Gargett]

1 hour ago, MoeFOH said:

RIP Legend. ❤️🙏

I don't believe you can ever truly define a single GOAT. But Pele will never drop out of that conversation. 

may not be the place and i acknowledge that for soccer, there are certainly several in that conversation (that said, for me, pele first and nothing will convince me otherwise), but i would disagree that there can't be a GOAT in various sports. can anyone seriously challenge bradman as the greatest cricketer, by so far it is almost otherworldly (unless you are a tosser writer trying to sell your self-published rubbish by claiming otherwise but we'll leave that imbecile aside). he so dominated cricket that on a statistical basis alone, he is far away the most dominant sportsman to have lived. anyone telling me he is not the GOAT is kidding themselves. 

heather mckay - women's squash (bigger than you might think when you bring in the various asian and commonwealth countries - she won the british open 16 times in a row and then the world titles when they brought that in. in all that time, she was undefeated in all competitions. didn't lose a match. not only that - would have to check - i think she only lost two sets in all that time. she retired at 40 and had been undefeated for 20 years. imagine if you could say the same of a tennis player. in the middle of that, she also took up hockey and played for australia for a number of years. and she decided she'd give racquetball a go, so went across to the States and won so much including national titles that she is in the US racquetball hall of fame. she is probably the greatest female athlete of all time, even if not well known these days. surely the GOAT. 

wayne gretsky? phelps? Ali. michael jordan (yes, i know some argue this but i assume that is simply to amuse themselves or fill in time). no doubt others will have other GOATS. 

[BrightonCorgi]

Eddy Merckx is ultimate sporting GOAT to me.

[JustDave]

This is one of those things where if you look at his play it was great but not that great, until you look at his contemporaries and realize he changed the way the game was played.  Such an amazing player, voice, and representative of his country.

[shokao]

As a brazilian and football lover, I must say that Pele was an absolute beast and the GOAT, no questions ask. This legend won 3 World Cups - still the only player to achieve this - and made the Santos Football Club one of the biggest teams in the world winning everything with them, multiple times.

Although I never got the chance to ser him playing live, I saw his plays and goals over and over when I was just a kid. 
 

He changed the sport forever and in a good way. He’ll be missed and never forgotten. I hope he find some peace now.

[BrightonCorgi]

2 hours ago, shokao said:

Although I never got the chance to ser him playing live, I saw his plays and goals over and over when I was just a kid.

I was close to seeing him play live when he was on NY Cosmos against the Washington Diplomats at RFK Stadium.  I was in 2nd grade.  I forget why we didn't go.

[Squarehead]

I was 13 years old when I watched the worldcup in 1958 in Sweden on tv.We had to go to friends to watch it as we didn't have a tv at that time.

RIP Pele