Latest news with #AndrewRobertson
Hamilton Spectator
09-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Hamilton Spectator
Building support for South West Mural Fest
The South West Mural Fest is getting set to hit the streets (or rather buildings) of Shaunavon, Saskatchewan for the second year in a row. Held in conjunction with Shaunavon's annual summer celebration, Boomtown Days, the Mural Fest returns from July 16-20 and will feature seven mural artists from across North America including Toronto, Saskatoon, Medicine Hat and Billings, Los Angeles and Houston. Andrew Robertson is a local visual artist who initiated this event in 2024. Robertson himself is becoming a well-known visual artist in various mediums. His first taste of a mural festival was in Medicine Hat where he painted his first mural. His collection has grown quickly with additional murals in Shaunavon, Eastend, Regina and Swift Current, along with privately commissioned murals and a recent installation at the long term care facility in Shaunavon. Six murals will be created during the Mural Fest. Robertson says, 'In this second year, we opened up an application process and received more than 80 applications from artists from all over the world including Italy, Germany, Australia and the United States, to name a few. We chose five artists from that process and two of the artists who participated last year will be returning.' Artists are provided with a fee, food, accommodation and supplies. The walls are prepped and primed by the committee in advance. The mural locations are curated by Robertson with the cooperation of local business and building owners. Businesses and organizations have also stepped up to support the festival as sponsors. Robertson provides one example of the support, saying, 'L10 Electric has donated a thousand bottles of water that will be distributed for free to attendees.' Organizers are still accepting sponsorships and donations for the event and donations of $20 or more can receive a charitable receipt through the Town of Shaunavon. A walking tour including last year's murals and this year's works-in-progress will be available and outlined on a map. There will also be a drop-in graffiti experience, free for all ages. A professional graffiti writer who has 25 years of experience will teach basic spray can techniques that participants can try for themselves. Robertson says this is the only mural festival in Saskatchewan. 'I participated in the Medicine Hat Mural Fest and had mentoring and advice from the organizer there, Jeff Goring. Jeff was also one of our featured artists last year, painting the mural on the south side of Hairanoia Cuts & Crystals on Centre Street. I thought a Mural Fest would be a great thing for Shaunavon.' Robertson knows what each participating mural artist will be painting and says the subjects will be relatable to the area. A documentary maker, vlogger (video-logger) and videographer/photographer will also be capturing the event. Organizers hope that the South West Mural Fest continues to grow. Robertson adds, 'It really complements all of the other activities happening during Boomtown Days weekend.' South West Mural Fest runs from July 16-20 and more information and updates on artists and activities can be found on their social media or website at and anyone interested in more information or who wants to become a sponsor or donor can e-mail southwestmuralfest@ . Error! Sorry, there was an error processing your request. There was a problem with the recaptcha. Please try again. You may unsubscribe at any time. By signing up, you agree to our terms of use and privacy policy . This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google privacy policy and terms of service apply. Want more of the latest from us? Sign up for more at our newsletter page .
Times
08-07-2025
- Sport
- Times
Arne Slot pays emotional tribute to Diogo Jota at Anfield
The Liverpool head coach Arne Slot made an emotional visit to Anfield as his family paid tribute to Diogo Jota. Slot and his wife, Mirjam, laid flowers at the shrine that has formed at the stadium after the death of Jota and his brother, André Silva, in a car crash in Spain last week. 'Diogo, we had the same dream and we fulfilled it together,' said a poignant message from the Slot family, including children, Isa and Joep. 'André and yourself will for ever be in our hearts.' Liverpool and Scotland left back Andrew Robertson, who jokingly nicknamed his former team-mate MacJota because of his British outlook despite his Portuguese roots, saw for himself the scale of the tributes on Wednesday. Robertson spent time reading the many messages for Jota, 28, having earlier returned to pre-season training at Liverpool's AXA training centre in Kirkby. He also attended the funeral on Saturday in Gondomar, Porto, alongside Slot, and fellow team-mates Virgil van Dijk, Alexis Mac Allister and Darwin Núñez among others. Michael Edwards, the chief executive officer of football for Liverpool owner Fenway Sports Group, also stopped at Anfield to lay a floral arrangement with 'Jota 20' on it. Robertson at Anfield LIVERPOOL FC 'I will miss you': Robertson's heartfelt message to his former team-mate, whom he called 'MacJota' LIVERPOOL FC A personal message accompanied the wreath, with Edwards describing Jota as 'down to earth, determined, a great finisher and above all loved and respected by all who knew him'.
New York Times
07-07-2025
- Sport
- New York Times
Liverpool are a club in mourning. How can they think about football again?
Virgil van Dijk led the way, as he always does. Liverpool's captain walked slowly, head slightly bowed, his hands clasping a wreath of red flowers in the shape of a football shirt. The figure 20, Diogo Jota's shirt number at Anfield, was picked out in white blooms. Alongside him was Andrew Robertson. Just two weeks ago, the Scot had attended Jota's wedding to his childhood sweetheart, Rute Cardoso, at the 18th-century Igreja da Lapa church in Porto, and was pictured beaming alongside his team-mate and his bride. On Saturday, he was carrying his own wreath, also in the shape of a football shirt. This was one bore the No 30, in honour of Andre Silva, Jota's younger brother who died alongside him in Thursday's car crash in a remote corner of north-west Spain. Advertisement Almost all the Liverpool squad had travelled to Gondomar, on the outskirts of Porto, for the brothers' funeral. They had arrived late on Friday night to attend the wake, to respectful applause from locals gathered outside the San Cosme chapel, but there was none of the joshing and joking that traditionally provides a soundtrack whenever footballers gather together. All looked haunted. Arne Slot was also in Gondomar. He walked between Joe Gomez and Alexis Mac Allister, hands clasped in front of him, looking lost in his thoughts. It is only two months since Slot became a title-winner in his first season in English football, although that feels like an age ago. He must have felt well-equipped to face down most challenges that can beset a football manager. But nothing would have prepared him for this — the death of a beloved first-team player, and in such arbitrary, cruel circumstances. The notion of any return to normality feels abhorrent just now — a crass, unwelcome intrusion into private grief. Yet the painful fact remains that, with 35 days until the Community Shield at Wembley, Slot and his staff must at some point confront the question of when Liverpool's players should think about football again. A small group of players had been due to return for pre-season testing on Friday. That, understandably, was cancelled but a phased return to training is scheduled to begin today. Ordinarily, the first day of pre-season is one of the more convivial dates in a footballer's calendar — a day to reacquaint with old friends and swap summer holiday stories. Over the years, Liverpool's social media team have made a point of capturing the happy, first-day-back-at-school vibes. This year will be very different. Liverpool — the city and the club — has been smothered by sorrow since Jota's death, Anfield serving as a makeshift shrine for the thousands of mourners who came to pay their respects with floral bouquets, No 20 balloons, a heartfelt note or just by standing in quiet reflection. It is hard to believe any of Slot's squad are relishing the prospect of returning. Kirkby will feel a strange place — the unexpected empty space in the dressing room; the absence of a familiar voice amid the buzz of the canteen. For many, the new sad reality will take a lot of getting used to. Things will never feel quite the same. Advertisement Football is, by its nature, a transient industry. Players are accustomed to seeing friends depart abruptly via a transfer, the end of a contract or retirement. But in many cases they will be reacquainted soon enough, either as opponents the following season or as friends away from the pitch. Liverpool's players did not get the chance to say goodbye to Jota. Instead, all they could do was offer farewells through heartfelt posts on their social media accounts. Mohamed Salah's words in his tribute on Instagram summed it up well: 'Team-mates come and go, but not like this.' It is likely each player in the squad will have experienced loss in their lives, whether that be a grandparent, parent, sibling, family member or friend, and the effects that come with it. But this is a collective grief. Everybody will be there for each other while experiencing and dealing with their own pain. And that grief is unpredictable. It can hit people when they least expect it, or retreat when emotions should be feverish. Each individual will deal with it in their own way, and some will need more time than others. It makes the return to training a difficult situation to manage. For some players, football will be cathartic — a release from dark thoughts. They will want to get back on the pitch to honour Jota and to distract themselves from their feelings and ease the pain. Many will probably already be visualising paying tribute to him when they score their first goal. Others will be the opposite. The common theme of the tributes paid by his team-mates was conveying that they did not want to believe it — Salah even admitted he was 'frightened' by the idea of returning to Liverpool to find that Jota was really gone. He will not be the only one. Footballers, because of their status, are unfairly viewed either as superheroes or robots, who think nothing of shrugging off everyday concerns when they strap on some shinpads and cross a white line. It is too easy to forget they are regular human beings who may be gifted at kicking a ball, but hurt just as much as everyone else. Advertisement Another trait often ascribed to footballers is courage — the kind that enables them to put their head into a frenzy of flying boots, or take a decisive penalty when thousands are willing them to fail. But what awaits Liverpool's players in the coming weeks and months requires a very different sort of bravery, and one that cannot be verified by an action on a football pitch. Some will grow, some may shrink; both responses require empathy. The first days and weeks will be the hardest, full of raw emotion. Liverpool have offered full support to players and staff to help them through this period and at least we are now living in an era when mental health support is seen as just as essential a part of player care as physiotherapy. Before Thursday, Slot's biggest task for the start this week was integrating three new exciting signings — Jeremie Frimpong, Florian Wirtz and Milos Kerkez — and beginning work on systems and tactics without creative lynchpin Trent Alexander-Arnold. There was also the challenge of working with a reshaped coaching staff, including Giovanni van Bronckhorst, as they aim to retain the Premier League title. That all feels irrelevant now. Slot's great challenge is providing support for his players who have seen their team-mate and friend taken away from them so suddenly and cruelly, while also managing his own grief. It is an onerous burden. It feels almost grotesque to say it, but Liverpool actually have a football match to play on Sunday, a friendly against Championship club Preston North End. That game has been circled in the calendar with supporters excited to see club-record signing Wirtz, in particular, for the first time. Now, it will be another opportunity to reflect, remember and commemorate the brilliance of Liverpool's No 20. His song will doubtless echo around Deepdale from the 5,656 Liverpool fans expected to travel. Jota helped take Liverpool to victory and, eventually, his team-mates will feel ready to win again for him. It may just take some time.
Gulf Today
06-07-2025
- Sport
- Gulf Today
Football stars join family of Liverpool player Jota, brother for funeral
Liverpool players joined family and friends for the funeral of their teammate Diogo Jota and his brother on Saturday, two days after the siblings died in a car crash in Spain. Liverpool captain Virgil Van Dijk arrived carrying a red floral arrangement in the shape of a soccer shirt with Jota's No. 20 in white. Liverpool teammate Andrew Robertson carried a similar arrangement with the No. 30, the number worn by Jota's brother, André Silva, who played for Portuguese club Penafiel. The service was held at Igreja Matriz church in the Portuguese town of Gondomar, where Jota had a home. Liverpool's captain Virgil van Dijk and teammate Andrew Robertson arrive at the funeral ceremony. Reuters Church bells pealed at 11:00 am local time as the funeral started. Pallbearers carried the caskets of both brothers from a chapel next door and into the church. Relatives and hundreds of friends and acquaintances, including players of the local Gondomar FC where Jota started playing at age 9, then followed. Portugal's national team coach Roberto Martínez and several top Portuguese players also attended, including Manchester City duo Bernardo Silva and Rúben Dias and Manchester United's Bruno Fernándes. Jota, 28, and the 25-year-old Silva were found dead near Zamora in northwestern Spain early on Thursday after the Lamborghini they were driving crashed on an isolated stretch of highway just after midnight on Thursday and burst into flames. AC Milan's Portuguese forward Joao Felix (left) arrives for the funeral. Agence France-Presse The brothers were reportedly heading to catch a boat from northern Spain to go to England where Jota was to rejoin with Liverpool after a summer break. Spanish police are investigating the cause of the crash, which did not involve another vehicle, they said. They said they believe it could have been caused by a blown tyre. Their bodies were repatriated to Portugal after being identified by the family. A wake was held for them on Friday. Manchester City's Portuguese midfielder Bernardo Silva (right) at the funeral on Saturday. AFP Jota's death occurred two weeks after he married long-time partner Rute Cardoso while on vacation from a long season where he helped Liverpool win the Premier League. The couple had three children, the youngest born last year. Their loss led to an outpouring of condolences from the soccer world and Portuguese officials. Associated Press
Times
05-07-2025
- Sport
- Times
Dressing rooms can be a refuge — how football clubs cope with tragedy
Liverpool begin pre-season on Tuesday and in the dressing room at the AXA Training Centre there will be an empty seat between Harvey Elliott and Kostas Tsimikas. Missing will be not a friend to two people but a friend to everyone. His name is Diogo. Conor Bradley will not have the big brother who helped him settle when he arrived from the academy, who played the Fifa video game with him and went with him to Cheltenham races. Alexis Mac Allister will be without the smile he loved, Darwin Núñez the companion. Luis Díaz won't have the guy who, in his hour of need, when his dad was in danger, scored a goal and held up a 'Díaz' shirt. For Tsimikas the pal who joined the club the same summer, back in 2020, won't be there. They had their own banter. 'You cross, I score,' Diogo would joke — and gloriously at Nottingham Forest that's exactly what happened moments after they both came on as substitutes. For Andrew Robertson, missing is maybe his best mate in the whole squad. Robbo was at Cheltenham with him too, and the darts, and at his wedding only two weeks ago. He was that type of friend, Robbo posted, who makes your life better and their goodbye is too soon and hurts so much. Someone who worked with Diogo Jota says he was 'one of the last truly selfless players' and Michael Caulfield, Brentford's psychologist, thinks it's always worth keeping in mind that 'even the older footballers are young'. And they are. Liverpool's squad, from fresh-faced Bradley to seasoned Mohamed Salah, are all young men dealing with a type of loss no one should face at a young stage of life. 'They'll want each other,' Caulfield says, 'they'll want the sanctum of the dressing room.' They will also not want to be regarded as a priority. To a man, in heartfelt social media messages such as Robertson's, they have reminded us the most important people at this time are Jota's family. But those players need looking after and both Liverpool's performance psychologist, Lee Richardson, and club chaplain, Bill Bygroves, are former footballers and relatable types with a light-touch approach. Every two or three weeks Richardson, 56, asks players to complete a questionnaire about their mental health as a low-key way of prompting reflection and getting them to 'check in with themselves'. He believes psychologists should 'not work on but work with' those who use them and seeks to create a 'safe circle' for players that wasn't there when he was a pro. In October, Liverpool made a 25-minute film for World Mental Health Day, which involved Richardson and a squad member speaking about the importance of airing feelings. The player who volunteered to take part was Jota and watching it is poignant now. Jota spoke about the importance of talking and the desire to be a strength for his kids but mostly he listened to what Richardson had to say. You get more than a glimpse of the intelligent, open, others-first person he was. The release that playing can provide cropped up in their conversation. 'Obviously everyone has things going on in their lives, business or family or whatever. I still feel like when I enter the pitch everything clears,' Jota said. Liverpool's first pre-season friendly is away to Preston North End on Sunday and no final decision will be taken until players are assessed but, as it stands, the fixture is expected to go ahead. The coming weeks are a road that can only be taken step by step and there is a unique pain to every loss. Yet there are examples of football clubs processing grief that might make people at Liverpool feel less alone. When Thursday's unimaginable news broke that Jota, 28, and his brother, André Silva, 26 — who is being mourned at Liverpool too — died after a car accident in Spain, many will have thought of Jimmy Davis, the former Manchester United and Watford forward, killed after a collision on the M40 aged 21 in 2003. By all accounts he was a similar character to Jota: a down-to-earth, warm, family-focused person whose positive company left others smiling. One who fitted Arne Slot's description of Jota as 'a friend not to two people but a friend to everyone'. Danny Webber came through the United ranks with Davis and was at Watford when Davis joined a month before his death. They were very close mates. Webber is not sure how he would have got through the bereavement without the compassion of Watford's manager, Ray Lewington, and director of football, Terry Byrne, and the support the players gave each other. 'A huge consideration for everyone was protecting Jimmy's family and remembering first and foremost the family have suffered the biggest loss,' Webber says. 'But what really stood out to me when Jim passed was even people who hadn't known him for a long period were affected because he built an affinity with people.' Davis died on the eve of a match with Coventry City and Webber says: 'I remember walking into the dressing room and the news was raw and the game had been cancelled. And I'm watching people, and I kept my sunglasses on because I was crying, and I'm thinking, 'Wow, it has deeply affected everybody.' Even senior pros who had only known him a few weeks were in tears but some people are infectious and Jota strikes me as that type of character. When you lose people like that, then it's about your community.' Webber, now 43, reflects, 'We were just young people,' and thinks of Lewington and Byrne continually checking in and keeping an eye on how he was coping. 'I remember being on the massage table and they'd spoken to Wayne, the masseur, and Wayne took it on himself to help in terms of relieving the stress. That's really important. I didn't identify where I was really struggling. I tried to do a lot of things to honour Jimmy, like wore a vest with his name on, but everything comes with weight because of the emotion attached to the person, you know? 'So I just think one of your biggest helps is the footballing community. You realise the magnitude of the person from the people who turn up and there was such an array of people at Jota's funeral [on Saturday] and Jimmy was the same — David Beckham flew back from Real Madrid, the whole Man United team turned up, the Swindon team [where Davis spent three months on loan].' With his own family in Manchester, Webber found the dressing room a nurturing and necessary refuge. 'I was down there by myself. So if I went home, I was in my own head, I was in my own thoughts. Sometimes I'd lose six, seven, eight hours and not realise where I'd gone. 'I only realise on reflection how important the dressing room was. Everybody came together. Everybody cried together, laughed together, smiled together, talked together. Talked about it. 'Sometimes it was as simple as, 'Are you OK?' And some days you'd want to talk, some days you wouldn't, and then there's also that ability, within a football dressing room, to shut off and go in and physically exhaust yourself and get rid of some of the angst you might be feeling.' Webber says Lewington and Byrne demonstrated great emotional intelligence. 'I was — how can I put it? — carrying ten rucksacks with weights on my back while playing football and once we got safe Ray just said to me, 'Go home and be with your family.' It was two, three weeks before the end of the season and exactly what I needed. Being back in Manchester helped and then I went to Vegas and blew off some steam.' Webber's heart goes out to Jota's wife, Rute Cardoso, their three children and his parents, and says one of the most important things is that football keeps checking in on the family. It can help by continuing to honour Diogo and André. 'There were a couple of things we did at Watford. As his initiation song Jimmy sang Gangsta's Paradise. It was his favourite and everybody loved his performance. 'All the years Watford had come out to Z-Cars, but we changed and walked out to Gangsta's Paradise. You'd have goosebumps because you knew what it meant but it was a blessing and a curse because it actually came with a heavy thought at the beginning of every football match. 'But then you would always rationalise it and be like, 'Yeah, flipping heck, it's Jimmy, he's here with us, it's the right, kind thing.' 'I think as a collective we found it heavy that season. We nearly got relegated but, in terms of remembering, what I do know is that Jimmy's family hold dear that they're still invited to things. 'The overwhelming thing, as I say, is how the football community was very warm in checking in on Jimmy's family and making sure they were looked after. To this day United still check in and I still speak to Jimmy's mum, sister, brother and best mate. I feel so deeply for his family, I can't even tell you. It's something that never leaves you.' Fifteen years ago Swansea City suffered the loss of Besian Idrizaj, a former Liverpool player, who died in his sleep of a suspected heart attack at home in Austria aged 22. The 2009-10 season had just ended. Garry Monk was club captain and a pillar of strength, as was the experienced forward Shefki Kuqi, who had a close bond with Idrizaj because of their Kosovan heritage. Kuqi flew to be with Idrizaj's family and help his father with the Kosovan press and Monk rang round players while liaising with the club. 'I remember having to communicate a lot with Shefki because he was incredibly upset and you go into organisation mode, speaking to the players, speaking to Kevin Johns, our club chaplain,' Monk says. 'Kev played a real big role. Privately, with the players, he led some prayers and then had a service with fans. The main thing was making sure Besian's family were respected.' Idrizaj was in players' minds all season and a constant motivation. Monk often spoke about him in team talks, reminding everyone how lucky they were and to seize what moments they had on the pitch. Swansea retired Idrizaj's shirt number of 40 and won their first game without him 4-0, scoring in the 40th minute after fans held up a '40' mosaic. After winning the Championship play-off final nine months later at Wembley, the team lifted the trophy wearing T-shirts in tribute to him. 'I made sure, along with Sue, the kit lady, we had T-shirts printed with his name and picture because we knew his family would be watching and wanted them to know, in that moment of success, we were thinking of something more important — we were thinking about Besian,' Monk said. Honouring a person, looking out for their family and just talking was Leyton Orient's route to dealing with the sudden death of their manager, Justin Edinburgh, shortly after he steered them back to the Football League in 2019. Martin Ling was, and remains, their director of football. Being the close season, he had to inform the players via a difficult, emotional group video call. Once they were in training, looking out for them was easier. 'We let them know there's places to go if you need to go through any type of grief [counselling] and one of the biggest things I remember is, I don't go on the training pitch every day but just felt it was really, really quiet around the place. I went out and said, 'Justin is gone but if he was here today, what would he expect of you?' and you could hear the level of conversation start to go up a bit,' Ling says. 'You need to help people get things off their chest. You're never going to bring it straight back to normal so it's just about making it as normal as you can. When the lads are out playing football and the ball's running around, that's probably the time they're thinking about it least.' There is no manual for grief; everyone has to make their own way, Ling reflects. He was helped enormously by the League Managers Association and tried to use previous experience of dealing with personal mental health issues to help players. He's proud to work out of an office in what is now the Justin Edinburgh Stand at Brisbane Road and, as Orient continue on an upward trajectory, continually reminds people 'this all started with Justin'. Thinking of Liverpool's players, he says: 'I just think they need support. They need people to allow them to grieve, they need time to understand. 'I can't dress it up or say it any other way — time does heal. It allows you to understand and cope. In the way Justin has been with us since he passed six years ago, I think they will carry Jota. Liverpool will always carry Jota.' A colleague (from outside the sports section) haughtily speculated football people wouldn't know what to do faced with tragedy like Jota. I think it's the very opposite. Football is a world where facing and feeling and sharing emotion is unavoidable. In dressing rooms people are, to use two words that recurred in Liverpool players' posts about Jota, companions and brothers. No office is like that. 'Football is the harshest environment in life. But it's also the kindest place to be in life. In moments like these you find football at its most giving. Deep down players share a bond — they all come from remarkable backgrounds, have been through remarkable challenges to get here and understand how precious it all is,' Caulfield says. 'And this is Liverpool. Look how Sir Kenny Dalglish handled Hillsborough. He had zero training but it was the greatest act of compassion I've ever seen.' You won't find a business leader capable of the kind of message Slot posted about Jota, or speaking with the raw power the manager Chris Wilder did after the passing of the former Sheffield United defender George Baldock in October. Wilder wanted to honour Baldock as a 'culture carrier' and empathise with what Baldock's former team-mates were going through. Baldock was described by Wilder as a culture carrier and emblematic of what he wants the club to look like MATT WEST/SHUTTERSTOCK 'Players see more of each other than possibly their families because they're in at eight o'clock, leave at four o'clock and do that five days a week and travel together and have match day. George represented me, and what I wanted our club to look like. His journey was amazing, from MK Dons to the Premier League and becoming an international player, and he was the lad who cared about the whole group and the wider club,' Wilder says. That seems to have been Jota too. At his funeral in Gondomar his best friend, the Portugal midfielder Ruben Neves, helped carry his coffin and players from Wolves, Manchester City and Manchester United attended. Virgil van Dijk carried flowers in the shape of a red shirt bearing Jota's number, 20, Robertson carried one bearing Silva's number, 30, and behind them, in line, walked Liverpool staff and present and former players. Walk on. That's all the bereaved can do.
