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 no consensus. –Juliancolton | ^Talk 17:09, 27 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Dominic Merella[edit]

Player fails WP:ATHLETE as he has never played in a fully-pro league or cup competition; his sole appearance for a professional team (in the FA Cup) came against non-league opponents. Contested PROD; PROD removed with no rationale given. Giant Snowman 12:30, 20 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Note: This discussion has been included in WikiProject Football's list of association football related deletions. Giant Snowman 12:31, 20 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Delete until he plays a professional game. If he does. Blue Square Thing (talk) 13:17, 20 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Delete fails WP:ATHLETE --Angelo (talk) 13:48, 20 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Delete as above. John Sloan @ 20:41, 20 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Note: This debate has been included in the list of Living people-related deletion discussions. --Erwin85Bot (talk) 00:00, 21 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Comment I thought making an FA Cup appearance for a team in a fully-professional league against a team that isn't, still qualified as a professional appearance and makes him notable? I'm certain I've seen articles pass AfD because of this. --Jimbo^[online] 08:35, 21 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Keep - On the basis of Jimbos comment above as I also thought the same as Jimbo? Merella played in the third round of the FA Cup, surely that is the deciding factor about notability and not the quality of opposition, which after all is simply down to the draw being made, which is pot luck. It was a professional game, both clubs are after all, full time.♦Tangerines♦·Talk 00:38, 22 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Keep per Tangerines. He played in a competitive first-team match for a club which plays in a fully professional league only one level below the Premier League, this seems OK to me. The fact that Blackpool came out of the hat to play a non-league team rather than Man United isn't his fault -- ChrisTheDude (talk) 08:53, 22 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Comment omg, we're talking about a subject who played a handful of minutes in a FA Cup game against a Conference team only to be released days later that same month, and then entering into the great huge world of non-league amateur football. Which are the achievements that make him a notable subject? WP:ATHLETE mentions about fully professional level of a sport, and there is no full professionalism in a domestic cup game against a semi-pro club. A bit of common sense, come on... --Angelo (talk) 11:25, 22 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]

To be fair, Torquay United are far from semi-pro, although the league they played in this season wasn't fully-pro. --Jimbo^[online] 11:30, 22 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]

The core of the issue doesn't really change, since we're talking about a subject who played a handful of minutes in a match against a Conference National team before disappearing completely from professional football. And, according to what the article says, it seems like he is struggling even at such level (3 recorded non-league appearances in the infobox). --Angelo (talk) 12:50, 22 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Keep. Easily meets WP:ATHLETE with FA Cup appearance for team in second level of English football. Nfitz (talk) 04:53, 24 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Keep - the team you're playing for matters, not the team you're playing against. ArtVandelay13 (talk) 11:01, 26 May 2009 (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.