I’ve been expecting this for a few months, but that doesn’t make this news any easier to read. I’ve written a few things below about how I’ve followed her career since she became my favourite player.
After watching the German team play in the 2015 World Cup Tabbi very quickly became one of my favourite players, not least because of the Ivory Coast game where it took me 20 minutes to realise the side didn’t have seven players wearing the number 22 shirt - she was just covering most of the pitch! For the next couple of years I consumed every morsel of information about her career, usually easier for international games than club - Frauen BuLi games were difficult to find streams of online! Even so, the odd games I did catch I was amazed at her versatility, playing anywhere across the back line or midfield (and even, once or twice, up front)!
I was lucky enough to watch Turbine Potsdam train one evening while on holiday in Berlin in spring 2017. I dragged my wife to a sports complex deep on the outskirts of Berlin for an hour as the team were put through their paces, before nervously approaching and shyly asking for a photo. She was happy to do so and we had a brief chat (ok, the conversation was carried by Dana and Tabbi), even apologising for not having a match that we could attend during our stay!
A year or so later her stay at Turbine was cut short prematurely with a knee injury, and the rumours were rife that she was moving to an English club. When her long-term housemate* Lia Wälti signed a contract with Arsenal, I spent the next fortnight with notifications turned on for their Twitter account waiting for confirmation that Tabbi would be joining her. Finally it came, and I bought a membership/season ticket for the year ahead. I knew Tabbi was still injured, and I’d be working every other weekend anyway, but surely I’d get to see her kick a ball in anger eventually, right?
Well, no. The three brief appearances she made were all watched via BBC Sport or Facebook streams of the matches on my tablet at work, and the closest I came was her being named as a sub for the title winning match at Brighton, although my hopes were quickly dashed when I couldn’t see her warming up before the match (and noticed an Arsenal player on crutches on the other side of the pitch). One small consolation - due to the availability of players at WSL games, I’d regularly have brief conversations with her (and others) either pre- or post-game, eventually managing not to make an idiot of myself. It’s an odd state of affairs that I’ve had more conversations with my favourite footballer than I have ever seen her play!
After repeated injury updates I gradually started to accept that my chances of seeing Tabbi playing were slim to none, and prepared myself for the news that eventually came today. It’s still sad to hear - not because I’ll never see her play, but for an Arsenal side who could benefit immensely from such a versatile and talented player, and for a Germany side who have lacked a bit of aggression over the last two years.
Aggression (fig 1.)
Tabbi is the only player whose name I’ve ever had printed on a shirt more than once - a 2016 Germany shirt (unfortunately I could never find the Olympic shirt to purchase anyway, so made do with a standard one to commemorate her gold medal) and last season’s Arsenal home shirt, because I wanted to emphasise that I was following the women’s side.
Tabbi obliges a grateful and nervous fan (Also, I did not realise quite how much weight I’ve lost in the last three years)
*I don’t know if Tabbi and Lia officially gave a relationship status, and if not it’s certainly not my place to do it.
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