Remembering Sol Bamba: No bitterness, no resentment, just strength, bravery and that glorious smile

I beloved Sol Bamba’s accent. He was a Parisian of African descent who performed in France, Turkey and Italy, however the very first thing you heard every time he spoke was a contact of Edinburgh. Three years at Hibernian noticed to that, as did two earlier seasons throughout the Firth of Forth with Dunfermline. Soccer left its mark on him, and he did the identical.

Bamba was all the time up for the following journey, wherever it was. The final time we spoke, he was getting concerned with the Ivory Coast’s teaching crew en path to them profitable the Africa Cup of Nations again in February. The time earlier than that, he was organising his diary to create time to pursue his UEFA Professional teaching licence. Any time you requested about his well being, you heard: “I’m good, mate. I’m good.” He’d persist with that line even when he wasn’t, as a result of he didn’t discover solace in bringing individuals down.

His demise at 39, introduced on Saturday evening, will carry so many individuals down.

Bamba was straightforward to like — a veritable diamond, with probably the most infectious smile this facet of wherever — and social media at the moment is a barometer of his popularity. I began writing about him when he joined Leeds United in 2015 and the easiest way I can outline him is as father determine, cult hero and strong spine rolled into one. He wasn’t Leeds’ biggest participant. He wasn’t even shut. However his character in that specific time frame (when it was safer to cover than stick your neck out) earned him his stripes.

That’s to not say Bamba wasn’t an achieved centre-back. He had top, he had energy, he had coronary heart and he was devoted, an Ivory Coast worldwide with nearly 50 caps to his identify. On occasion, he’d give all people at Leeds the heebie-jeebies with bomb-scare runs out of defence (there was his adventurous facet) however you recognize what? Soccer wants a little bit of cavalier spirit. Soccer wants Sol Bambas.

When time ran out for him at Elland Highway early within the 2016-17 season, he severed his contract rapidly and left. He was a membership captain who couldn’t get a sport any longer, and he frightened his presence within the dressing room can be a hindrance. “They didn’t want that,” he mentioned later. “It was higher for them that I obtained out of the way in which.”

Bamba received buddies at Leeds as a result of he fought for the membership, metaphorically in addition to bodily.

It’s onerous to completely clarify the state of the membership round 2015 however take it from me: the atmosphere was risky, detrimental and infrequently toxic.

Leeds have been a Premier League entity trapped within the Championship, performing like they’d be caught within the second tier of English soccer perpetually. Massimo Cellino, the proprietor then, ran the present — and ran it just like the Wild West. You encountered ludicrous unpredictability within the boardroom. There have been cliques and divisions within the dressing room. Managers/head coaches had a shelf life much like bottles of milk as a result of Cellino couldn’t get sufficient of sacking them. And within the thick of all of it, you had Bamba.

Twice, Bamba spoke out publicly, criticising the membership’s senior administration and demanding higher. His first dig was particularly dangerous as a result of he was solely on mortgage from Italian membership Palermo, with no assure of a everlasting contract with Leeds. He had additionally risen to the place of captain, although, and you discover out about gamers in fractious circumstances. It’s simpler to face again and to say nothing, to bottle out. Bamba most well-liked to say what wanted to be mentioned, and rattling the results.

It was telling that, regardless of his feedback, Leeds signed him completely from Palermo, nearly as if Cellino admired the scale of his cojones.

I usually questioned if the most effective route to creating Cellino pay attention was to entrance him up, and Bamba’s willingness to hold the flag has not been forgotten. At Elland Highway, you see, numerous individuals have failed the group over the previous 20 years. Those that didn’t are perennially appreciated. To place it one other manner: Bamba may have gone ingesting in Leeds for every week with out having to purchase a pint.

Bamba throughout his time at Hibernian (Craig Williamson/SNS Group by way of Getty Pictures)

In 2020, he was identified with a type of most cancers on Christmas Eve.

We’d grow to be buddies through the years after he left Elland Highway and some days on from his final hit of chemotherapy, I interviewed him for The Athletic. One of many first issues he requested the physician who identified him was, “When’s my subsequent sport?” He was a Cardiff Metropolis participant by then and he spoke about his sickness as if it was a minor interlude in his life and profession, one thing he would energy by way of. “I can’t end like this,” he mentioned. “This isn’t it.” And it wasn’t.

Not lengthy after, he tweeted to say he was cancer-free, however a put up on Instagram from his spouse Chloe final evening revealed that the sickness had returned. “It was by no means a good struggle,” she wrote. “Simply when issues have been trying up, he took a downturn.” Bamba had accepted it as “God’s will”, she mentioned, which seems like him.

He’ll have gone with out resentment or bitterness, the embodiment of his wonderful smile.

(High photograph: Alex Pantling/Getty Pictures)