Thread by @PausaFutbol

Remembering Jean-Pierre Adams, the former French footballer whose life was tragically impaled by medical negligence.

#PausaHistoria

[THREAD]

Adams passed away 3 days ago in Nimes, France, where he had been in a comatose state for over 39 years. Upon the news of his death, tributes poured in from all over France.

Born in Dakar, Senegal in March 1948, Adams was raised by a devout Catholic family, who prioritized his education above anything else. With this aim, they sent a 9 yr old Adams to Loiret, France, where he could pursue high quality education while being fostered by a local family.

Over the years, Adams would complete his basic schooling. However, football interested him more than academia. He would work in a rubber factory while playing for different local clubs. In this time, Adams suffered a serious knee injury which kept him out for a long time.

With immense fortitude, the 19 yr old Adams was able to secure a move to Entente BFN, a newly formed club that played in the highest tier of French amateur football. But misfortune would still befall Adams, who survived a car crash without much damage but lost his friend to it.

Enduring all of this in such a short space of time made Adams consider quitting football. However, his career would be salvaged by a brief time of military service and in meeting up with his future wife – Bernadette, who would encourage him to further pursue a career in football.

His time at the military introduced him to people who greatly appreciated his ability to play the game. One such man was future French NT player Michel Mezy, who recommended Adams to the then coach of Olympique Nimes – Kader Firoud.

Firoud saw Adams play in a few games and was impressed enough to offer him a trial. Adams succesfully impressed everyone there and earned his first ever professional contract at the age of 22.

Firoud would be a huge influence on Adams. He would make him the focal point of his team at centre back. It is important to note this was among Nimes’ greatest ever sides and Adams had just slotted himself in as a permanent fixture with ease.

In 1972, he would make his French NT debut in the Taca Independencia, a tournament held in Brazil to celebrate the country’s 150th year of independence from Portugal. Despite France’s disappointing exit in the early stages, Adams was praised for his resolute defending.

In 1973, he would move to Nice, who had high ambitions of winning the title and spent increasingly to achieve that. Although Nice would fail to realize their dreams, Adams would become one of the best players in France with regular appearances in successive teams of the season.

After 4 years at Nice, Adams moved to PSG. The PSG project was under its first period of big spending under Daniel Hechter and the 29 yr old Adams was just the kind of signing they wanted to send out a title winning statement.

However, unlike at Nice, his career did not take off very well in Paris. After 2 disappointing seasons, he was released from his contract and with this his time in the top flight had come to an end. He then had a 1 yr stint at 2nd division FC Mulhouse.

Then, at the age of 32 with a declining physical condition, Adams joined amateur side FC Chalon where he took up a dual player-coach role. The club also helped him and Bernadette to set up a sports shop in the centre of the town.

Over the next year, he gradually left playing and fully transitioned into a coach. In March 1982, Adams decided to pursue a week long coaching course in Dijon. However, 3 days into the course, he felt some issues with his knee and decided to seek out medical help in Lyon.

Initial scans revealed damage to the tendon at the back of the knee. Adams was advised that an operation would be the best solution and so proceeded to go through it. The operation was carried out but Adams never woke up from it.

It would turn out his supply of anaesthetic had been administered wrongly and was overseen by a trainee. Additionally, the drug used was known to be problematic and the anaesthetist was in charge of overseeing 8 different operations at once.

Bernadette never left her husband’s side through the 4 decades. Over the years, PSG, Olympique Nimes and the French Football Federation all provided some financial assistance. Many football stars such as Platini, Zidane and Papin also raised money through playing in friendlies.

The French courts took 11 years to reach the verdict of a one month suspension each for the anaesthetic and the trainee.

[END OF THREAD]

You could read more on Adams' life on Issue 12 of @blzzrd thanks to @RBairner. Alternatively, the write up has been converted to an audio version across various podcast platforms

open.spotify.com/episode/185t5H…