Hearts To Honour Phil O’Donnell

Hearts face Motherwell in the third round of the Scottish Cup on Saturday in what will be the Steelmen’s first match since the death of their captain Phil O’Donnell.

Last weekend’s round of matches all paid respect to O’Donnell with a minute’s applause and the one I was involved in at Tynecastle was poignantly observed – for me this a much better way to show
respects to a footballer than a minute’s silence, and it was a touching tribute on Saturday.

Because Motherwell haven’t played since the tragedy occurred though, they have not yet been involved in a match where a tribute to O’Donnell has taken place, so it was originally suspected that the Hearts match would perhaps stage another minute’s applause or a silence. But Motherwell have acknowledged the respect already shown by Hearts and have instead asked if their players can go into a ‘silent huddle’ for a few moments in front of their travelling supporters on Saturday, who are likely to be there in much larger numbers than normal. I would therefore like to think that everyone else in the stadium will respect their wishes in the same way as they supported the minute’s applause last Saturday.

Hearts have also chosen to play further tribute to O’Donnell by issuing a special edition of the match programme on Saturday in his honour, with all proceeds going to an appropriate fund to be agreed by Motherwell and O’Donnell’s family. Club representative Campbell Ogilvie had this to say about the idea:

‘We wanted to pay a tribute to Phil O’Donnell, and we felt this would be a good way. It seemed entirely the right approach to offer all profits in this way and we’ll continue to discuss this with Motherwell in the coming weeks before presenting the funds accordingly.’

I’m very pleased to see that Hearts have taken this stance and I’m sure that more people than normal will buy a copy of the programme on Saturday. Let’s hope that the fans also show the Motherwell players the necessary respect during their huddle too.