Micah Richards may never view the World Cup in the same way again.
The former England defender lost his father Lincoln on Wednesday night, receiving the news of his “unexpected” death just before the BBC’s coverage of England’s semi-final against Argentina started.
Not like you would have known. Within a second of realising they were on air, the opening montage and Mark Chapman’s introduction completed, Richards bravely bore a trademark smile next to fellow pundits Wayne Rooney and Joe Hart at Atlanta Stadium.
Richards even dove straight in, the first to give his take on England’s team news, before saying: “I’m just absolutely grateful to be here. World Cup semi-final. We’re in this amazing stadium.”
And there he remained, in position, for the next four hours as a rollercoaster unfolded below him.
Richards admirably smiled as the BBC’s coverage started (Photo: BBC)His head must have been swimming. He could have left at any point. He could have excused himself from showing up entirely, but instead he did his job with a peak audience of 24 million people watching back home – knowing his father, inexplicably, was not one of them.
“I know, particularly as a proud old-school Yorkshireman, dad would’ve wanted the show to go on this evening. And so it did,” Richards wrote on Instagram.
There is no right or wrong regarding the choices grief throws at you, and Richards would not have been weak had he left, but in following the wishes of his father in suiting up, smiling and providing analysis about men kicking a ball around when his mind must have been elsewhere, that takes huge amounts of mental strength.
We have seen before how football and grief interact on the pitch. Liverpool throughout the entirety of last season following Diogo Jota’s death. Cody Gakpo scoring at this World Cup days after the loss of his unborn son. Frank Lampard scoring a penalty in 2008 six days after his mother’s death.
We have seen it in the dugouts. France boss Didier Deschamps lost his mother during the World Cup and returned for the knockout stages, while The i Paper‘s chief football writer Daniel Storey has spoken to three managers – Scott Lindsey, Charlie Adam and Dean Holden – about how they have channeled personal loss.
We have seen it in the studios as well. Richards’ colleague Chapman lost his wife Sara in 2020, and was back presenting Match of the Day 2 a month later.
An hour, a month, a year. There is no too soon or too long, and the likelihood is that Richards, running on adrenaline, made the late call to appear himself, throwing himself into a job knowing his dad would be proud.
www.instagram.com/p/Da1Lb7os9iD/This is where I am grateful my job is not under intense studio lighting.
In 2022, I lost my wife, Emma, to cancer during the World Cup. In 2018, Emma’s father spent three weeks at a hospice, which overlapped with a summer World Cup so many fondly remember in England, and passed away in August that year.
I, therefore, know Richards’ outlook on the World Cup may never be the same, because for me, the tournament has become synonymous with death.
England’s exit to Croatia to 2018. The quarter-final loss to France in 2022. I felt nothing, and four years on from my wife dying, shaking off the association between death and the World Cup has been a struggle.
My perspective has changed. I wanted to care more about England’s defeat last night but couldn’t. It wasn’t a tragedy, and besides, it is just the way it always goes.
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It dragged me around Europe as I sought Champions League distractions, it dragged me to The Emirates to cover Arsenal 12 months after we had watched The Killers there in Emma’s final year, and it then inspired me to step foot in Leicester, in 2025, for the first time since she died there.
So even when it feels like little progress has been made, football reminds me of how far I’ve come. Simply watching this World Cup goes down as an achievement, falling into my belief it is better to confront grief than avoid it, and just like Wimbledon or walking around London or visiting our favourite park, I know I’ll be able to do it again because I’ve already dragged myself through it the first time.
Football will do the same for Richards. It will drag him around, distract him and yet evoke memories of his father all at the same time.
It will make him laugh and it will make him cry, and while the World Cup may never be the same again, in honouring the wishes of Lincoln, his “hero and inspiration”, Richards has already become an inspiration himself.
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