There are no union meetings, subs or walkouts, but goalies do share a sense of solidarity
By Will Magee for When Saturday Comes
James Shea tells a story that captures the fraternal spirit among goalkeepers. Back when he was a novice at
Arsenal – before his meandering path from the wilds of non-league took him to his current club, Luton Town – new gloves felt like a luxury and, on an academy keeper’s salary, were still a significant expense. Shea asked Lukasz Fabianski if he could borrow a pair for training. A few days later, Fabianski turned up with a big box full of gloves with Shea’s name emblazoned on them.
It was far from a one-off act of kindness. There are many goalkeepers with similar stories.
Football is so often a dog-eat-dog environment but many keepers testify to a different moral code. There is even a term for this tendency towards mutual support: the goalkeepers’ union. There are no subs, no union meetings and no walkouts, but many will bear witness to the sense of solidarity between the sticks.