Re: Steve Prescott : Mon Nov 11, 2013 2:28 pm
I've avoided thinking about when this day would come and was absolutely overcome when they announced it on the BBC before the Fiji game. The way the crowd spontaneously turned the minutes silence into an applause is one of the most genuinely hart wrenching things I can remember, and I'm a guy who's been through the mill a few times myself.Steve's situation grabbed everyone's heart. Not only was he a classy and entertaining player, but he played with a smile on his face and his body on the line.
When a man so young, who we felt like we know almost personally, was given such grave news all those years ago, it went a long way to making people realise how fragile life is and how we often take for granted the many things we have going for us.
Since then, his courage in the face of such dire circumstance has been nothing short of incredible - The inner strength he's shown not to lie down and let his illness have the last word, to make sure that its not his untimely passing that defines, but instead his actions during his life.
Steve achieved an awful lot as a rugby player and, had he retired and lived a normal life, he still would have had a valued and cherished place in my memories, but what he has created with the Steve Prescott Foundation and all his acts of incredible bravery and commitment have cemented him in mine and every other rugby league fans memory as one of the most incredible human beings we've known. He is a true Man of Steel and the very epitome of what we mean when we use the word legend.
My sincere condolences are with Steve's wife, children and family. Its is scant consolation, but Steve's legacy will live on with the Steve Prescott foundation and all the good work they've done. Hopefully they will go on to live life as Steve showed them, with strength, hope, a smile on their face and the drive to make this world a better place.
RIP Steve Prescott.