Being obsessed with soccer and life insurance, it was inevitable that I would blog some of the perils of being associated with a football mad spouse, or being caught up in a football debate. For the record, the FIFA world cup 2010 official body count stands at 79. Here are some of the events that lead to these fatalities.
- A Thai gunman shot and killed two of his countrymen when they make a racket at Italy's first goal in the Italy - Ghana game.
- In Ecuador, a soccer fan terrified by his own power, committed suicide after he correctly predicted that Ecuador would lose to Poland.
- A woman in China died after plummeting from the 17th story of her apartment building last Sunday, after an argument with her boyfriend, who wanted to watch the World Cup in the early morning hours. The boyfriend says she jumped.
- An 18 year old Parisian reveller died after he fell off the top of a subway car he was riding.
- A 20 year old French woman from Lens died when her car crashed, as she leaned out the window in celebration.
- And a man was feared drowned in Lyon after he jumped off a bridge into the River Saone with a group of friends.
- Eleven Chinese people have died of what is now being called "World Cup Syndrome," which consists of watching a match and keeling over and dying, usually of a heart attack. China remains the nation with the most World Cup deaths, all the more strange since the Chinese team did not even qualify.
- The deadliest event of the entire cup took place in Burundi, where seven people died after police hurled a grenade and opened fire into a crowd of celebrants who were setting off fireworks.
- In Thailand, yet another fan expired of heart failure while watching the final.
- And in Montpelier, the fifth French World Cup death was reported, when a young man was stabbed in the neck during an outdoor viewing of the France-South Africa game.
- In Italy, a 77 year old man fell while trying to attach a flag to a pole prior to the final game.
- A 30 year old member of the Italian crime gang Camorra was shot to death by a rival gang member’s riding motorbikes, as he came out of hiding to celebrate.
Without doubt, the number one killer during the World Cup is heart attacks, followed by murder, with over-zealous revellers (PC for intoxicated fans) a close second or third.
The only good news in all this, is that all the fatalities mentioned above, are insurable events.
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