Jonas Gutierrez’s trademark long hair has, one follicle at a time, fallen off of his head, leaving a shiny dome. Chemotherapy does that.
It was the final day of the 2012-2013 season. Gutierrez’s club, Newcastle, was playing Arsenal. A collision with Bacary Sagna “in the area of the pubic bone and genitals” left Gutierrez with constant pain in his testicles.
He went to the doctor a few times. It started to hurt when he put on his pants. One of his testicles became inflamed.
He had an ultrasound. The result: a tumor that would have to be removed surgically. He went back to Argentina for treatment, with Newcastle’s blessing, because it's easier to communicate with doctors when you speak the same language as them. He had the operation, but the cancer didn’t go completely away.
He has had to undergo chemotherapy treatments and have a testicle removed. He has one treatment left.
Where this leaves Gutierrez is anyone’s guess. Obviously, the entire footballing community is supporting Gutierrez in his struggle, except for maybe Newcastle. They loaned Gutierrez to Norwich City in January. Gutierrez’s contract runs for another year, and after that, who knows?
What is the right move for a club when a player is battling cancer? The humanitarian move is obvious: keep him. Support him through a hard point in his life.
The business move is obvious too: dump him, sick players can’t play, and players who can’t play are useless. Chemotherapy saps a person's health, and their strength and their athleticism. Not things you want to be without on a football pitch. Newcastle compromised.
What if Gutierrez hadn’t had a guaranteed contract though? What then?
Sports is a business, but the fans expect humanitarian acts from the powers that be in teams’ front offices. Yet, the fans also expect a winning product.
This puts club owners, managers and executives in a tough position. In a volatile environment like a football club, fans can praise a club one minute for doing the right thing and keeping a sick player but turn on them the minute this decision begins to affect the team’s play.
We don’t know if Newcastle made the right decision in loaning out Gutierrez. If he rejoins the club next year this might just be water under the bridge. However, in our opinion, this is a stressful situation that Gutierrez doesn’t need right now. He should not be worrying about his job at a time when he is worrying about his life.
We tend to think of high-level athletes as shiny golden gods, far and away physically superior to us mere mortals and therefore invincible. Every once in a while something comes along to remind us that deep down they’re just like us. Sometimes, when they’re putting their pants on one leg at a time, it hurts, and they have cancer, and they worry about dying, and they worry about losing their job, when they shouldn’t have to.
