On December 12th, Harry Arter gave a Man of the Match performance as Bournemouth beat Man Utd 2-1 at Dean Court.
He did so in the face of immense personal grief.
Just days previous, he and his fiancee Rachel had lost their daughter Renee at birth.
Speaking to The Guardian, Arter told of a speech which he gave to his teammates before the game. His fellow Bournemouth players had become aware of the tragedy which had befallen Arter two days prior to the match.
I did manage to do the speech and I actually kept it together. I used what happened to say to the lads: ‘Listen, I’ve experienced how short a life can be, what’s happened to my little baby could happen to someone in this team, so make sure you give everything today because these football moments are not going to last forever, and what I’ve learned from this experience is that life can end at any second.
Arter had a steely focus to his game against Man Utd. He admits that it slipped the following week against West Brom but from there on, every game he has played has been an attempt to honour the memory of his daughter.
Hand on heart, as soon as the Man United game started my main focus was putting in a performance. The only game where mentally I did not feel in the right place was West Brom. But that was a massive wake-up call for me. There was no way I was going to let this define my football.
Every single game now I go out – and this is the truth – to play for her. I think I need to do her proud and play as well as I physically can, so that if she’s watching she’ll be happy.
The 26-year-old received plenty of support in the days after his loss, including from Martin O'Neill, Roy Keane and other members of the Ireland team.
I was so overwhelmed with the amount of support I got from people I know would care but I wouldn’t expect to make a call. Martin O’Neill called me, Roy Keane was with him and sent his best wishes. People I play with for Ireland that I’m not close to at all were texting me. There were people from all across the world sending me messages – I must have received over 3,000 across that Saturday, Sunday and Monday. I swear I read every single one and Rachel probably read most of them as well.
Picture credit: David Maher / SPORTSFILE
