Robson 'Robbie' Savage (1967–2017) was a

Namibia Namibia (, ), officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in Southern Africa. Its western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Zambia and Angola to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and ea ...

n football fan and

socialite A socialite is a person from a wealthy and (possibly) aristocratic background, who is prominent in high society. A socialite generally spends a significant amount of time attending various fashionable social gatherings, instead of having traditio ...

. He was the official

mascot A mascot is any human, animal, or object thought to bring luck, or anything used to represent a group with a common public identity, such as a school, professional sports team, society, military unit, or brand name. Mascots are also used as fi ...

of the

Brave Warriors The Namibia national football team represents Namibia in men's international football and is controlled by the Namibia Football Association. They have never qualified for the FIFA World Cup but have made three appearances in the Africa Cup of ...

, Namibia's national football team, as well as of the first inter-racial rugby match between

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

and pre-independent Namibia in 1987. Savage was born on 31 January 1967 and grew up in

Windhoek Windhoek (, , ) is the capital and largest city of Namibia. It is located in central Namibia in the Khomas Highland plateau area, at around above sea level, almost exactly at the country's geographical centre. The population of Windhoek in 20 ...

Khomasdal Khomasdal is a suburb of Namibia's capital of Windhoek in the Khomas Region. Founded as Windhoek's residential area for Coloured people, Khomasdal still is primarily composed of Coloured people. In October 2006, the City of Windhoek announce ...

suburb. He had

Down syndrome Down syndrome or Down's syndrome, also known as trisomy 21, is a genetic disorder caused by the presence of all or part of a third copy of chromosome 21. It is usually associated with physical growth delays, mild to moderate intellectual dis ...

and was the widest-known Namibian that lived with the disease. Already in his youth he developed a passion for football and attended countless major and minor events. Later he supported other sports codes as well, notably boxing and athletics, and he was a noticeable member of the audience in uncountable high-profile Namibian social events. This was to an extent that on several occasions his unlikely absence would be noticed, for instance at a concert of The Rockets in Windhoek that was opened with the question "Where is Robbie?" Although a poor man throughout his life, Savage's role as mascot of the

enabled him to tour the African continent for several sports events. Namibian President (then

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...

)

Hage Geingob Hage Gottfried Geingob (born 3 August 1941) is a Namibian politician, serving as the third president of Namibia since 21 March 2015. Geingob was the first Prime Minister of Namibia from 1990 to 2002, and served as prime minister again from 2012 ...

, himself an ardent football fan, took him to the

1998 African Cup of Nations The 1998 African Cup of Nations in Burkina Faso was the 21st edition of the Africa Cup of Nations (ACN), the national football championship of Africa, administered by the Confederation of African Football (CAF). Just like in 1996, the field of ...

Burkina Faso Burkina Faso (, ; , ff, 𞤄𞤵𞤪𞤳𞤭𞤲𞤢 𞤊𞤢𞤧𞤮, italic=no) is a landlocked country in West Africa with an area of , bordered by Mali to the northwest, Niger to the northeast, Benin to the southeast, Togo and Ghana to the ...

. Savage, without being invited, attended a personal talk between the two Prime Ministers there, and he also took the opportunity to inspect the Burkinabé

Guard of honour A guard of honour ( GB), also honor guard ( US), also ceremonial guard, is a group of people, usually military in nature, appointed to receive or guard a head of state or other dignitaries, the fallen in war, or to attend at state ceremonials, ...

Nampa The Namibia Press Agency (NAMPA) is the national news agency of the Namibia, Republic of Namibia. It was founded in 1987 under the name Namibia Press Association as a SWAPO partisan press agency, and resuscitated after Namibian War of Independence ...

CEO Isack Hamata writes that through his frequent public appearances "he unknowingly de-stigmatised Downs Syndrome". Savage was hospitalised at

Katutura State Hospital Katutura State Hospital is a hospital in Katutura, a black township of Windhoek, Namibia. Together with the Windhoek Central Hospital, it is one of two State Hospitals in the Windhoek area, and Namibia's only general referral hospital. In November ...

in May 2017 after having a stroke. He also developed

diabetic ketoacidosis Diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) is a potentially life-threatening complication of diabetes mellitus. Signs and symptoms may include vomiting, abdominal pain, deep gasping breathing, increased urination, weakness, confusion and occasionally loss of ...

and died from this complication on 20 July 2017.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Savage, Robbie 1967 births 2017 deaths People from Windhoek People with Down syndrome Deaths from diabetes Association football mascots Namibian people with disabilities