NEW YORK - Soccer journalist, podcast, blogger and website curator Dave Richards has passed away after reportedly not eating for the past 5 years while he had absolutely zero money coming in from writing about soccer in the United States.
One day when my column gives me a chance to write for free for a major international brand I'll get a half chance to write for money. Then I can start thinking about top ramen!
"He was always broke" said Richards friend Barbara Leavenworth. "I tried to tell him that passion and interest in reporting soccer isn't going to pay the bills but he wouldn't listen."
Richards apparently sacrificed his own personal life, finances and health in order to report on the game accurately and informatively for the thousands that read his daily columns and listened to his work on line.
"He was the greatest," said Red Bull New York fan Samuel Hawthorne. "The guys at the Post and even the Times wouldn't always delve into such depth that Dave did. The fans out here who remember when both those newspapers wouldn't touch the local game with a 12 foot pole always appreciated him and the fact that he cared. I'm going to miss him, but I just wish that he could have figured out how to actually get paid to do this job so he would still be around."
The Nutmeg News asked a panel of soccer bloggers if they received any compensation to do their work and none of them had enough strength from eating recently to respond.
"I work for the love of the game," said a clearly broke Yancey Thigpen who covers Orlando City soccer. "I live with my parents, write and research for 12 hours a day, listen to online audio to learn the pronunciation of players names that I don't understand, study tactics and sometimes I take jobs at the convenience store around the corner just so I can make some money. I just feel that I am one well placed article with a European blog away from breaking into this industry."
The Nutmeg News will have more on this as bloggers realize again and again that the love of the game only will take them so far.