Oasis fan, 30, dies in Edinburgh hotel room hours before show
Alessandro Croce, from the Teramo area of Italy, passed away in Edinburgh on Saturday after falling unwell.
4
Alessandro Croce tragically died before attending an Oasis concert in Edinburgh
4
The 30-year-old had travelled to the capital from Teramo, Italy
4
Tributes have been paid to the amateur basketball player and dentist
4
He was planning to attend Oasis' concert at Murrayfield Stadium on Saturday
Credit: Mark Ferguson
It is understood the 30-year-old collapsed at his accommodation just hours before the sold-out show at Murrayfield Stadium.
Tributes have poured in for the dentist and amateur basketball player.
His local team, Teramo, said it is "shocked" by his sudden passing.
The club hailed him as a "beloved" player, a "pillar" of their squad and "an example of dedication, loyalty and sportsmanship to us all".
A statement from the club read: "Basketball Teramo mourns the demise of Alessandro Croce.
"The entire Teramo Basketball community is literally shocked and grips with deep and inconceivable sorrow for the sudden and untimely demise of our beloved athlete Alessandro, at the age of 30.
"Alessandro has not only been a pillar of our team, but an integral part of our history and the heart of our association.
"Grown up in our ranks, played on our team for as many as 6 seasons, was our first captain in 2012 and 2013; dedicated his life to his passion for basketball, becoming an example of dedication, loyalty and sportsmanship to us all.
"His absence will leave an indelible void in all of us, not only on the playing field but especially in our hearts.
"At this moment of great sadness, all the management, technical staff, athletes and fans of Basketball Teramo wish to express their deepest condolences to Alessandro's family.
Joyous moment Scots schoolgirl dances to favourite Oasis song outside packed Murrayfield gig
"His memory and smile will live on forever in every game, every practice and every basket."
The mayor of Bellante, Giovanni Melchiorre, said: "The sudden demise of Alessandro Croce, young Teraman and valuable basketball player of Monstars Bellante, leaves us stunned and saddens us.
"Thirty years is the right age to build and consolidate, and death should not be considered among the possible outcomes of the life experience lived up to then.
"I just like to think that Alessandro was exactly where he wanted to be, and he lived his fragility just like every time on the basketball court, accepting the challenge and fighting.
"The family members receive the most heartfelt condolences from the Bellante Administration and the entire town community."
Local politician, Gianguido D'Alberto, wrote: "Our town is deeply shaken by the passing of Alessandro Croce, a young life broken too soon.
"On behalf of myself and the Municipal Administration I express my deepest condolences to father Paolo, mother Paola, sister Giulia and the whole family, expressing the closeness and embrace of the entire Teraman community at this moment of immense pain."
Police Scotland has been contacted for comment.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Irish Independent
2 hours ago
- Irish Independent
Ireland end scoring drought but suffer Women's EuroHockey Championship defeat to Scotland
A 3-2 defeat saw the lower-ranked Scots record their first EuroHockey victory over Ireland since 2013, scoring three times in the last 11 minutes for good measure. The riveting finale followed an uneventful three quarters, with Lizzie Murphy making two noteworthy penalty corner saves. Roisín Upton finally opened Ireland's campaign in the 35th minute. It came via a penalty stroke after Katie Mullan was fouled in the circle. Upton was off the pitch when Ireland missed from the spot at a crucial moment in the Germany defeat midweek - although rules dictate that she could have come on - but here she flicked clinically to hand her side the lead. Charlotte Watson equalised courtesy of the same route in the fourth quarter, before Mullan restored parity with a powerful shot nine minutes from time. Moments later and Amy Costello's corner dragflick proved too good for Murphy as Scotland levelled again. Ireland's hopes for another fifth-place finish then evaporated six minutes from time. A crash ball into the D was seemingly left alone by the Irish defence, only for the ball to clatter off the post and Heather McEwan gleefully tapped home. It was an inglorious ending, especially for the hapless Murphy in goal, Ireland's standout player this week. Gareth Grundie's side will now face England in their final classification match on Sunday morning. England, who have finished outside the medals for the fourth edition running, will be looking for their fifth EuroHockey win in succession over the Green Army. Ireland have dropped two places to world No.13 following their pool exit. One respite is that they have earned a place at a 2026 World Cup qualifier tournament.
Irish Examiner
9 hours ago
- Irish Examiner
Hogan's resilience has brought her this far, now the World Cup awaits
Brittany Hogan was already a concoction of emotions as the first question was being unspooled in her direction. Her bottom lip quivered as she stood there in front of the RTÉ cameras, hands on hips, the player of the match medal draped around her neck. This was April of last year and Ireland had just beaten Scotland 15-12 courtesy of a 73rd-minute Dannah O'Brien penalty in front of a record crowd in Belfast to secure third place in the Six Nations table and qualification for a World Cup that gets underway next Friday. It would be Ireland's first time at the big dance since they provided the ballrooms in Dublin and Belfast in 2017, so here was catharsis writ large. Deliverance from the purgatory of Parma in 2021 when a dramatic and late loss to the Scots cost them a place at the last World Cup in New Zealand. Ireland would be left holding the wooden spoon seven months after that, having lost all five games in the 2022 Six Nations, but clear signs of promise had been evident 12 months later in defeats to France and Italy and a thumping of Wales before 88 unanswered points were shipped to England. All of which had left them with an outside shot of finishing third in the 2023 table and claiming that golden ticket to the global gig that went with it. For that to happen, they needed Wales to shock Italy earlier in the day, and for Scotland to be sent home in defeat. Wales, surprisingly, upheld their end of the bargain. They edged the Italians by two points in Cardiff just minutes before kick-off in Belfast, but Ireland head coach Scott Bemand chose not to tell his players about the result across the Irish Sea before kick-off. And so to the final whistle and to Hogan. 'I was a part of the squad that didn't qualify for the World Cup in Parma and that was one of the lowest points of my career. I can't remember who it was, but I just got told when I was walking over to do the interview that we had qualified, completely secured it. I had no idea.' That alone would explain the difficulty in finding the words to describe her feelings in that moment, but there was more to it than just the emotional release of qualifying and being blindsided by the news of it seconds before going live on air. 'My partner's dad actually passed away that morning. So it was a big day for a lot of things, and I just tried to make sure that the rugby was where I made everyone proud and tried to make a little happy part of their day. 'As soon as I got the microphone, it was just a big release of everything that I was holding that day. So, yeah, it was a very, like… I don't even know what to describe it as. It was a roller coaster of a day.' Hogan wasn't the first player or athlete across the sporting spectrum to turn out in the midst of such personal grief, but her performance, coming just hours after such awful news, came from a resilience born of experience. In February of 2023, Hogan spoke out publicly for the first time about the sexual abuse she experienced as a young teenager, and how it led to her taking on an ambassadorial role with the Irish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (ISPCC). She lost her father Eamonn just four months later, when a wasp sting triggered a severe allergic reaction while he was driving his youngest daughter home from school, and after which Hogan launched a fundraising campaign for Air Ambulance Northern Ireland. 'I suppose I've been through quite a lot in my life myself anyway. I would have had to turn up to the HPC (the IRFU's High Performance Centre) for sevens training five days a week, and then go to tournaments every four weeks whenever I was going through my own personal things. 'So I was very good, and became very good at, as soon as I crossed those four white lines switching into training. I was into game mode. I was into making sure that I was switched on for my teammates around me and, yeah, I used the tools in my toolbox to be able to do that.' Hogan's performance that day in Belfast may have been unusual for the circumstances that preceded it, but it was on a par with the impact made throughout an Ireland career that has delivered 34 caps to date and which makes her the fourth most experienced player in the squad. She is 26 now and a high-class fixture at the No.8 position and in a back row that can still call on plenty of quality for pool games against Japan, Spain and New Zealand, despite the injury-enforced absence of Erin King and, for the early pool stages at least, Aoife Wafer. Hogan has relished the team's rebuild this last three years, the leaps and bounds made since Parma. And the belief shown in her by Bemand has been the fuel she felt she needed to take her own game to new heights in that time. 'I'm hoping that what I bring to the World Cup is that in those big games and those big moments I'll be able to perform, that I'll be able to actually execute my role for the team. 'I play with a cool head, and it kind of opens me up to be able to see more spaces, or to carry hard, and hard work underpins everything I do. That's hopefully what I'll bring to the World Cup.'
Irish Independent
10 hours ago
- Irish Independent
The story behind Noel Gallagher's GAA playing debut at Croke Park
This article was originally published last September when Offaly legend Richie Connor recalled putting the Oasis legend through his paces on his first visit in 1983 Today at 06:06 'There we were, now here we are' 'Columbia' (1994) - Oasis Little did Offaly football legend Richie Connor realise when he rocked into Croke Park on that Sunday morning in 1983 that he would end up coaching one of the most recognisable rock stars this side of the Atlantic Ocean.
