The following discussion is an archived debate of the proposed deletion of the article below. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review). No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was delete, with no prejudice towards future notability. Kurykh 00:17, 19 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Kieran Gibbs[edit]

Kieran Gibbs (edit | talk | history | protect | delete | links | watch | logs | views) – (View log)

This article was originally prodded by User:Qwghlm with the following rationale: "Under-18 footballer, not a professional or first team player, fails WP:BIO". However, I disagree with his decision and so I have brought it here. I vote to keep this article because while he has not played in any competitive first-team matches, he did play (started, in fact) in the Emirates Cup final alongside 10 first-team players (which implies the match was being taken seriously by the club) and in front of 60,000 fans and televised to hundreds of thousands more all over the world. Not to mention he scored a goal in the first leg of the FA Youth Cup in front of 35,000+ fans, and a goal in the away leg as well... but that's of relatively little consequence. -- ugen64 11:28, 13 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]

• This discussion has been included in WikiProject Football's list of football (soccer) related deletions. ChrisTheDude 11:34, 13 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]

• Weak delete. I'm sure he's a good player, but unless significant independent reliable source coverage is found, he doesn't meet the requirements at WP:BIO. Happy to change my mind if anyone comes up with anything. JulesH 12:09, 13 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • [1] - "bright contribution"... [2] - one of the game's "outstanding performers"... just a few random Google searches :) ugen64 12:12, 13 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]
    • Half a sentence in each article isn't significant coverage. While it's hard to quantify what's significant and what isn't, a brief comment on his performance in a single game clearly isn't significant. JulesH 13:36, 13 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]
• Delete Has not played a game in a fully-professional league. Number 57 13:21, 13 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]
• Delete - maybe one day, but he's not notable now. Jauerback 13:40, 13 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • Okay, fair enough, but look at Arsenal's lineup that day. Jens Lehmann, Emmanuel Eboue, Kolo Toure, Justin Hoyte, William Gallas, Bacary Sagna, Kieran Gibbs, Cesc Fabregas, Mathieu Flamini, Alexander Hleb, Robin van Persie. So apparently, playing a single match in the League One is worth more than playing a single match, a cup final no less, alongside 6 World Cup players (the ones bolded), leaving out 2 more selected on the bench? Maybe it is just a flagrant disregard of policy that leads me to believe this player is more notable than Max Porter :-) ugen64 05:16, 14 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • PS - we have an article on the Emirates Cup, which leads me to believe it's considered a notable competition... so does winning a notable competition make you a notable person? After all one of the criteria is "significant recognized awards or honors" and it seems to me a cup with an article can be considered "significant and recognized". ugen64 05:19, 14 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]
• Delete - as per standard clause of never having played in a professional league. Sorry, the Emirates Cup is a series of pre-season friendlies in my eyes.- fchd 19:06, 14 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • Yeah, and in Arsene Wenger's eyes the entire Carling Cup is a reserve competition, but it's still considered notable ;-) ugen64 07:01, 15 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]
• Delete as he has not yet played in a fully professional league per WP:BIO. Clubs often use pre-season friendlies as a way of providing experience for youth players while at the same time assessing them for the season ahead. The article can be brought back when he does play for the first team in the league, which, if he really is good, can't be far off. --Malcolmxl5 19:31, 16 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • Yes, I know this, I watched all of Arsenal's friendlies this preseason. But during the Emirates Cup and Amsterdam Tournament, Gibbs was the only youngster who got a touch (there were obviously other young players, like Armand Traore, but they are already first-team squad members). ugen64 06:11, 17 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]
• Delete - the Emirates Cup is a friendly tournament and used youth players as a matter of course. No prejudice if and when this player becomes a first-team player. Qwghlm 13:38, 18 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]

The above discussion is preserved as an archive of the debate. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review). No further edits should be made to this page.