[Football] Pele RIP

[Swansman]

Obviously not old enough to have seen him play live. My first experience of him as a kid was seeing him speaking in a commercial in broken Swedish talking about erection problems. "You have erection problems? Talk with you doctor. I would."

I remember not thinking much about him other than that he played ancient football in the ancient ages. All that changed when I started to use football archive sites to watch every game from every World Cup 1958 onwards. What a player! Especially in the earliest days he truly looked like a time traveller.

 

[Silverhatch]

Mexico 1970, I was 10 years old, watching a black & white TV, couldn't remember much about the 1966 World Cup but suddenly saw this bunch of Brazilians playing everyone off the park. Surely not us though?

England vs.Brazil still my favourite ever game of football. You just knew that the winner of this game would take the Cup. Bobby Moore was magnificent but Pele won it for Brazil. Should have been 2-0 to them but for that save!

Only George Best has approached him in my years of watching.

I was 9. We’d just got a 26 inch colour TV! When I watched the games I could feel the heat of Mexico. I was transfixed by the Brazil kit and their team. As you said, Brazil England was on a different level to anything I’d ever seen (highlights) on Match of the Day or the Big Match and I know I’d only ever watched the Chelsea Leeds cup finals and the Brighton Wolves league cup clash as full games. England West Germany was the first game of football I cried about; the next was 47 years later vs Wigan. The final was utterly sensational and even though Jairzinho was by then a revelation (to me), Pele appeared supernatural. Hyperbole was limited in 1970 and even though ITV’s Brian Moore could get animated in commentaries most delivery was factual and to the point. But for me the beeb’s David Coleman’s voice was the accompaniment to Brazil’s wonderful samba football, led by Pele - the greatest footballer of any generation.

 

[Cadiz Seagull]

The greatest player of all time

RIP King Pele

 

[WATFORD zero]

Also 10 at that 1970 world cup, it was incredible to watch the great man in his pomp. RIP

 

[Durlston]

It's so sad and so poignant, as explained below.

Last night (before hearing of his death) I was watching an old episode of Baddiel and Skinner's Fantasy Football League and the Phoenix From The Flames was Carlos Alberto and that iconic fourth goal in Brazil's 4-1 win over Italy in the World Cup final 1970 (quite a few football fans say this was the best quality football match ever played). What a team.

Pele was without doubt the greatest. No one will ever be better than him and when you think he had to play on far poorer pitches than today's superstars, there isn't even a debate. He was simply the best.

RIP Pele.

 

[zefarelly]

When Pele played for Santos European football wasn't considered the best in the world
Pele didn't rely on penalties to keep his ratio up either

One may add to that a majority of Internationals are little more than exhibition games anyway.

Big thing for me is Pele played in an era where he had no protection, survived, and excelled despite being kicked to bits. Also he didn't cheat his way to greatness.

 

[Not Andy Naylor]

One may add to that a majority of Internationals are little more than exhibition games anyway.

Big thing for me is Pele played in an era where he had no protection, survived, and excelled despite being kicked to bits. Also he didn't cheat his way to greatness.

While I agree that Pele is the best ever, it's slightly false to suggest that he did it all while being kicked while some others didn't. Maradona suffered some dreadful physical abuse while at Barcelona, including a notorious ankle-breaking foul from Andoni Goikoetxea, who was known as The Butcher of Bilbao.

 

[Robinjakarta]

Also he didn't cheat his way to greatness.

Yep. A great sportsman as well as the greatest player. A very sad day for football. RIP.

 

[Zeberdi]

Great tributes by Alan Mullery today

Mullery: I wanted to be like Pelé

Former Albion manager reflects on Brazil legend's passing.

www.brightonandhovealbion.com

Alan Mullery: Pele was something really special

Former England international Alan Mullery pays tribute to Pele and recalls how the Brazilian got the better of him when they came face to face at the World Cup in 1970.

www.skysports.com

 

[Nobby Cybergoat]

I've heard a few comments about the standard of the opposition as a way of belittling his incredible goals tally. But surely that's utter parochial ignorance. The Brazilian league was rammed full of Brazilian players, so his opponents would have been Garrincha Carlos Alberto, Vava, Rivelino etc. Players who dominated international football through that time.

Football then was also characterised by a larger degree of competitiveness between clubs. In contrast now a super player at a super club now will play most of the games against sides with 10 to 100 times less resources in some leagues. Today's grotesque financial inequality is likely to lead to the best players of today gaining high goal tallies. Yet still nobody can get near Pele's total.

 

[pure_white]

Sad news RIP Pele

 

[AmexRuislip]

 

[Popeye]

When Pele played the game in his prime there weren't as many Prima Donnas and to be frank, wimps, as their are in today's game. He set the standard for what a world class player really is and for all those who were great after him. Did a lot of work in the community also; legend just in that regard aside from his football legend status also.

RIP.

 

[Weststander]

BBC1, just started, the official 1970 World Cup Film.

Dated and ‘groovy’.

 

[1066familyman]

BBC1, just started, the official 1970 World Cup Film.

Dated and ‘groovy’.

I watched this on iPlayer today.

Brilliant film with lots of quirkiness. I hadn't realised that that WC was the first use of yellow and red cards in football for example.

From all the clips they showed, Jairzinho appeared to have been brilliant for Brazil. It was one WC too early for me. I can just about, very vaguely, remember 1974.

 

[Swansman]

Still pretty good at 50

 

[herecomesaregular]

FIFA to ask every country to name a stadium in honour of football great Pele, Gianni Infantino says

The former Santos FC star, widely regarded as one of the greatest footballers of all time, died on 29 December aged 82 after a battle with colon cancer since September 2021.

news.sky.com

It's really just a matter of opinion whether Pele is the GOAT (personally, I have no idea as I don't believe you can compare across eras) but I don't really agree with this sort of instruction.

​

 

[Eeyore]

FIFA to ask every country to name a stadium in honour of football great Pele, Gianni Infantino says

The former Santos FC star, widely regarded as one of the greatest footballers of all time, died on 29 December aged 82 after a battle with colon cancer since September 2021.

news.sky.com

It's really just a matter of opinion whether Pele is the GOAT (personally, I have no idea as I don't believe you can compare across eras) but I don't really agree with this sort of instruction.

​

It's a bit odd. Very Gianni Infantino. Stadiums are either named after sponsors for financial reasons or something relevant to the area. Whether Pele was the GOAT is debatable as it is hard to compare eras. I really don't like enforced bandwagons.

 

[Brovion]

Mexico 1970, I was 10 years old, watching a black & white TV, couldn't remember much about the 1966 World Cup but suddenly saw this bunch of Brazilians playing everyone off the park. Surely not us though?

England vs.Brazil still my favourite ever game of football. You just knew that the winner of this game would take the Cup. Bobby Moore was magnificent but Pele won it for Brazil. Should have been 2-0 to them but for that save!

Only George Best has approached him in my years of watching.

Mine too. It contains three moments that are still absolutely iconic: the save by Banks, the tackle by Moore, and Pele and Moore congratulating each other at the end. That whole World Cup though was amazing, and that Brazilian side is of course immortal. As kids playing out on the street we were always Brazil, never England. (Although unlike today we all supported England).

Pele was a large reason for that, he was so immense his appeal went far beyond Brazil, he was genuinely loved by the world and that's what makes him the Greatest. Maybe someday another player will come along who will be loved everywhere football is played and who will win the World Cup four times, then they will take his mantle as the Best Player Ever. Until then he reigns alone.

 

[trueblue]

For some reason, I read the heading as "Pete RIP". Was fascinated to find out about Pete.

RIP Pele. Groundbreaking genius. I'm off for an eye test.