England soccer star Martin Keown was suffering family anguish when he was sent off in Arsenal's Premiership game against Blackburn at Highbury last night.
The Gunners' defender who lives at Wheatley, near Oxford, learned two hours before the game that his seven-year-old son Callum needs a major operation.
Keown, 32, was sent off for his second bookable offence 20 minutes before the end of the game and will now miss two of Arsenal's vital games in the championship race.
He said: "My little boy is not well and it's only natural perhaps that I was a bit short. But it's not a good reason for the reaction that I had. I can handle things like this and I should be able to be professional." Arsenal won 1-0 last night, leaving them one point behind leaders Manchester United in the title race.
Keown, a former Oxford United youth player, is often seen at Oxford events, including school prize-givings and once even at a cub scout launch.
He is married to his childhood sweetheart, Nicola, whom he met while at St Edmund Campion School in Iffley Road, Oxford.
The pair were dating for seven years before they tied the knot in 1989 at St Edmund's and St Frideswide's Church in Iffley Road.
Story date: Wednesday 07 April
Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.
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