Sunday 29th August 2021
Keith is dead
Wigan and the Day of the Dead Duck
In the third English division, League One, Wigan and Portsmouth meet. During the half-time break, fans get up from their seats at DW Stadium and pay tribute to the life of a duck named Keith.
On a Saturday in August, English football showed its lovable side once again. During the half-time break of the third division game Wigan Athletic against Portsmouth, the spectators at DW Stadium rose to commemorate a deceased duck.
It all started in a Wigan forum, one of those places in a hidden corner of the internet where fans make plans to travel away, discuss the fate of their club and spend hours there. A few days ago one of the regular users mentioned that Keith had died. And with that the drama began. Because the fans were quickly united in their grief. One of them has been fighting cancer for a long time. His name? Keith Valentine. It could only be about him. The fans flooded the network with condolences and with their tears. Keith was not dead, but visibly amused. Keith, who had died, was just a duck.
So Keith, the human, thanked him on Facebook for all the messages and wrote: “It’s really nice to see how much you all miss me. But I haven’t given up the spoon yet. My fight against lung cancer continues. Probably I’m the first person in history who can read their condolences before he dies. I blame Daryl Ravden for this. Only he can have a duck named Keith. Another reason I hate my name. ”
Then the story developed a certain dynamic. Ravden, whose duck had died, logged on to Twitter and recorded the channel Memories of Keith. The Wigan fans asked their club to pay tribute to the duck’s life using the hashtag #RIPKeith. The club doctor, Jonathan Tobin, wrote to his club: “It’s been less than 24 hours since Keith gave his last, sad quack. We know that we have to look forward as a people, as a club and as a city, but it’s still very painful. Please be today respectfully. ” The club reacted.
And so it happened that on a Saturday in August during the half-time break of a third division game in Wigan, a duck was commemorated. The game of the two deeply fallen FA Cup winners from 2013 and 2008 was won 1-0 by the home team. Keith, the human, has received an invitation to the stadium for one of the upcoming home games. And Daryl Ravden declined all interviews. “The person he’s been mistaken for is a cancer-fighting friend and I don’t want it to bother him any more.”
.