And you thought soccer fans were passionate

The coach of Pakistan's national cricket squad, who died shortly after his team's shocking World Cup loss to Ireland, may have been murdered:

Top British detectives will investigate the death of Bob Woolmer as speculation intensifies that the former Pakistan coach was strangled in his bath.

Two Scotland Yard officers are due in Jamaica to help to solve the mystery behind the death of Woolmer, who held a British passport.

A Jamaican television station reported yesterday that the former England batsman had been strangled within 24 hours of Pakistan's shock Cricket World Cup loss to Ireland on Sunday, and other sources were backing that assertion last night.

[...]

Suspicions surfaced on Tuesday that his death was linked to match-fixing, and that he was about to tell all in a book that would have implicated several Pakistan players.

But co-author and sports scientist Professor Tim Noakes dismissed that theory.

Poor Mr. Woolmer may have met a fate similar to Colombian footballer Andres Escobar, who was shot dead after scoring an own-goal in the 1994 World Cup. Good thing we don't take our sports this seriously in North America, or Rex Grossman would be under 24-hour police protection. (Well, I guess that's a good thing.)

Damian P.

Posted by damian at March 22, 2007 12:57 PM