Well, it’s THAT time of the year again! We have “Best of 2017” lists wherever we look: Best Books of 2017, Best Movies of 2017, Best Music of 2017 and so on… And, it is our utmost pleasure to jump on the “Best of” wagon with our TOP Damian Lewis Moments of 2017! So we are taking the last week and a half of the year to reflect on the wonderful year Damian has had personally and professionally and hope to make you re-live those moments and SMILE BIG!
We don’t intend to rank the top moments as many “Best of” lists do. We pick the moments in which, we believe, Damian shines as a brilliant actor, a wonderful storyteller, a true gentleman or just a guy who knows to have a good time and bring them to you.
We are kicking off TOP Damian Lewis moments 2017 today with Damian playing in Game for Grenfell, a football match organized to raise funds for all families affected by the horrible Grenfell Tower fire in June that caused at least 80 deaths and more than 70 injuries. This special charity football game attests to our favorite guy’s talent in sports, his big heart as well as his fun side. Hope you enjoy it.
Well, he may call himself a muppet but Damian plays more like a professional baller in Game for Grenfell!
Game for Grenfell Loftus Road 3pm Saturday 2nd. Legends and muppets (I'm one of the muppets). Come pay for a ticket and help heal….
— Damian Lewis (@lewis_damian) September 1, 2017
Les Ferdinand and Alan Shearer, two former football stars, put together Game4Grenfell, a football match between two amazing teams of football stars and non-football stars at Queen Park Rangers’ (QPR) Loftus Road Stadium “to raise funds and inspire hope for those affected” by the Greenfell Tower fire that caused at least 80 deaths and more than 70 injuries back in June.
As I shared with you earlier here, this match is very special thanks to its beautiful cause and that my favorite actor is taking part in it, but it touches me personally also because Les Ferdinand, the current coach and the football director of QPR, is one of my early life football heroes.
He came to Besiktas, my home team, in 1988-89 season as a 21 year old striker. He scored 14 goals in 24 games and everyone who saw the goal he scored against Fenerbahce in the Turkish Cup match still remembers it 30 years later. Ferdinand stole a lot of hearts in Turkey not only with his skills on the ground but also being a real gentleman. So it is no surprise that he goes out there to organize Game4Grenfell to give back to the community in which he learnt to play football.
And while we are all on the same side at Game4Grenfell; on the side of the victims, their families, and the larger Lancaster West Estate community, when asked by Game4Grenfell the following question, I have only one answer:
Are you #TeamShearer or #TeamFerdinand?#Game4Grenfell pic.twitter.com/jjA1zXjPAq
— Game4Grenfell (@Game4Grenfell) August 30, 2017
Team Ferdinand all the way! 🙂
Damian tells The Evening Standard on Thursday that he started playing football as a teenager at the Westway and Avondale Park sport centers both of which are very close to Grenfell Tower.
And when asked what his goal is for the game, he shares what expects himself NOT TO DO on the field. His golden rule seems to be not to mess with the pros 😀
“I’m just aiming to not do as bad a tackle as I did on Zinedine Zidane a few years back, when I clattered into him at Old Trafford. Zinedine was not impressed but I had given him, well it was a very Paul Scholes tackle, we call it a ginger tackle — late and nowhere near the ball.
He dealt with me in exactly the way that one of the best European footballers of all time should have dealt with me, which was to look me in the eye 15 minutes later and nutmeg me in front of 70,000 people, who spontaneously burst into laughter at my expense.”
Damianista needs to jump in here. Just to add a few more people to those 70,000, here is the FAMOUS NUTMEG.
“Then Jamie Redknapp chased me around for the next five minutes saying ‘Damo, calm down, they didn’t come to watch you’, which was very, very funny.”
And then he gets serious and talks about how London copes with the tragedy.
“It’s a very typical pocket of London where there are extremely wealthy residential streets rubbing up against less privileged housing estates, but Londoners have always been good at mucking in together, sharing local community services and helping each other out and this should be no exception wherever you come from, whatever your ethnicity or background.”
Londoners once again showed compassion; they turned out for the game, watched it on TV, and donated along with so many others across the UK. And it is absolutely wonderful that the biggest cheer at Loftus Road came for Grenfell fire fighters Greg Jules, Adam Foster, David Badillo and Dean Smith who came on as substitutes.
Now… ARE YOU READY to live or re-live Game for Grenfell? Let’s go!
Locker room fun:
Here’s a brief video looking into the locker room! Find our guy in the massage room (that’s right, in the massage room!) here at 0:43 and see what he has to say about the match and the Grenfell Tower.
Damian “Libero” Lewis in the massage room:
“I’ve been playing the game in the shadows of Grenfell Tower. Every week. I’ve been playing down here since the age of 21. So about 10 years.”
Gotta LOVE him!
You can also take a quick look into Team Ferdinand Dressing Room here. Damian appears briefly at 0:32.
Warming up on the field:
Damian first announces the “mid-field engine room” for Sir Les Ferdinand (oh yeah, Ferdinand received an MBE back in 2005) on Twitter! That’s ONE GOOD SELFIE, boys!
Mid field engine room for Sir Les Ferdinand today. Game4Grenfell. #pleasegivemoney pic.twitter.com/TXEe3PXbmo
— Damian Lewis (@lewis_damian) September 2, 2017
Then he stretches out before the game starts and…
https://www.instagram.com/p/BYikVjXD8_h/?tagged=damianlewis
…shows a few skills with the ball…
…and pays a lovely tribute to Sir Bruce Forsyth who has recently passed away, before they kick off Game for Grenfell!
Damian shares with the Press Association, too, that he has played football in the shadow of the tower every week for 25 years. And he adds:
“It’s important to let them know we haven’t forgotten.”
The match started after a minute’s silence as the 18,000 at Loftus Road Stadium remembered those who lost their lives in the Grenfell Tower fire.
The match:
The “mid-field engine” seems to focus on attacking and, well, what JaniaJania says in the tweet below 😀
Adductor Magnus seems to be holding up quite well under the pressure… #Game4Grenfell #futbol #damianlewis pic.twitter.com/gKlwhEzNbr
— JaniaJania (@zarqa) September 2, 2017
Co-sign, partner!
And they score a goal within the first 90 seconds of the game!
https://twitter.com/jbrownn17/status/903982295312367616
Well, here is THE GOAL aka the most important moment of the entire game for Damian Lewis fandom! You’re very welcome 🙂
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hXX-23dHpnQ
And here is a fantastic photo showing HOW Damian took down three Team Shearer defense players. JaniaJania has put it in the best way ever:
“Knocking them down like bowling pins. Didn’t know soccer had tackles! Wowza”
Indeed.
This is one SERIOUS baller that makes football fans across the UK tweet not only about Damian being a “baller” but also asking their clubs to sign him up immediately 😀
Mate, @LFC is it too late to Sign Damian Lewis for us? #Game4Grenfall
— Samantha Nelson (@SamanthaNBM) September 2, 2017
Arsenal should have snapped up @lewis_damian this window. Looks more useful then half the side.
— PB (@BarcaBrin) September 2, 2017
Damian Lewis is a very tidy footballer #game4grenfell
— Andrew Parkinson (@andrew_p89) September 2, 2017
https://twitter.com/TheRikMoran/status/903990135175467009
https://twitter.com/Kaytea21/status/903984038813335552
Can it get better than Team Ferdinand doing The Mobot to celebrate Mo Farah’s goal? You can learn how to do The Mobot with Mo here!
And it is heartwarming to see Damian, I think, visiting his family who is at Loftus Road to watch him play, during his break from the game.
Final Score: 2-2 with Team Ferdinand winning 5-3 on penalties! Here is Damian and teammates watching the penalty shots followed by Team Ferdinand celebrating the win! 🙂
BIG thank you to ALL that are involved with Game for Grenfell for having big hearts and doing this for the community! We hope that Game for Grenfell raises tons of money for all affected in the tragedy as well as the wider community. I have donated to Game for Grenfell. You can securely donate here, too.
If you want to see more “Damian in Action” you can take a look at our updated gallery and see a wonderful summary video of the game, from locker room to penalty shots, here. It is, for some reason, limited to the UK viewers but those of you that use vpn know what to do. Cheers!
HUGE thanks go to Christine, whom many of you know as the wonderful writer of Meeting Damian Lewis, has just shared with us this news clip from today’s Telegraph. Well, who else could play the piano at the Game for Grenfell after-party, right?
And thanks to a tweet by Hotel Dorsett Shepherd’s Bush London, we have two more pics from the after-party. ENJOY!
Any guesses about what Damian is playing on the piano? Well, massive thanks go to our true detective Tsvetanka for finding the answer on Twitter: “Easy” by The Commodores. ENJOY!
https://twitter.com/FrankieSk8/status/914210928815681537
Damianista, as usual making my morning shine..Great moments indeed, agree also with JaniaJania Adductor seemed to hold quite well 😉
I also love Damian’s subtle sense of humor… 🙂
It was indeed a good community cause. I am so happy to see all celebrities who joined for the cause. I could bet Damian is singing and playing something by Elvis…what do you think?
Thanks again for the lovely post videos and pics.
Happy holidays! 🙂
Yes, a wonderful and very *journalistic* post as always! <3 A big "THANKS" from me too! I think he is singing and playing "Easy" by the Commodores 🙂 https://twitter.com/FrankieSk8/status/914210928815681537
I love the “*journalistic*” in your comment, YES, Damian said it once for our posts and I LOVED it. He could not have made us happier!
Thank you for being here, reading us, and sharing Damian love with us. I am so happy to know you my friend and I really hope we will watch him on stage together!
And you are a brilliant detective! I will add this little vid to the post as well. Of course with appropriate credits to you. Thanks!!!!!
He was absolutely right in saying that.
I’m not a detective. 😀 Reading the post with all Damian’s hilarious jokes about his football skills and looking at these funny pics by different people and as Eli cole mentioned his brilliant sense of humor, I just remembered that video by @FrankieSk8, which I saw earlier with the lovely comment about ” the incredibly talented Damian Lewis” <3
Thank you, but there’s no need of any credit, it's Damian you know… Every time I see him playing and singing, I wish I could lay under the piano as Judy Davis did in Impromptu 😀 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pmC3rsgHD9E I’m glad that I found you too, my friend!!! <3
Back to Football: 🙂 The cause was great and all those guys did a really great job for society. I SO ADMIRE the boys for their love for the team games! They still do that even when they get older. They still play football, they still play baseball, basketball… There is a park right next to our backyard and all the summer I could see through the window men of all ages gather together to play cricket just for fun. I’m wondering why we – women don’t do that? We do some yoga, Pilates etc but it’s not only about the physical exercises. Being a part of a team play is one of the greatest funs. It’s an absolutely different state of consciousness. It increases incredibly the feeling that you belong to a society of people. As the game begins, you perceive yourself as part of one great WE.
Happy Holydays to everyone here! 🙂
Thank you <3
We are building a community here altogether, and sharing the credits is just part of being a community, it is a true pleasure. Thanks so much for finding that little video, and thank you for identifying the music, too!!! I don't know The Commodores' music that well.
Back to team sports: The feminist in me cannot help make a case for women 🙂 First of all, no one cares as much as about female team sports as for men team sports. At my university, for example, there is no way you can get into a men's basketball game if you do not hold season tickets but they give out free tickets for women's basketball games. So, I think, there exists more encouragement and enthusiasm for men's teams. I think it also applies to individual sports. It's always easier to find tickets to women's tennis at US Open, but men's tickets go much more quickly. This is the demand side. And, I think, on the supply side, even in 21st century advanced countries, men have much more time in their hands to use for sports. They leave the wives and kids behind and go play. My limited data come from my own friends and family, both here and back in Turkey. It is true that women may not have the same priority for sports all the time, they may wanna chat with friends or go shopping when they have some time for themselves but I think they would do more sports, too, should they have had more time in their hands, and should they have been more encouragement. So, yeah, I put the blame on boys 🙂 Our boy is not exempt: As I told him backstage at the Goat, JaniaJania is my witness, I am so happy he is married to a feminist, so he does not have it easy. Hehe.
Thank you for making my day with your kind words! It’s a pleasure to make your morning shine, and you can’t imagine how happy I am to know you! I loved starting top moments with Game for Grenfell since the event showcases Damian’s generous heart, his talent in football (my favorite sport and, hey, I have supported Argentina since I was 10 in The World Cup!) as well as his sense of humor and his lovely way of having fun!
Happy Holidays and hope you enjoy the rest of our TOP Damian Lewis moments 2017! <3
@Tsvetanka Nikolaeva, those are quite detective skills for the song….I wouldnt have guessed in a life time…. I agree with Damianista’s Journalistic skills they are indeed so. Great writing! I think that is the enthusiasm, kindness, great content that Damian is so HAPPY with. One reads the content interacts with other fans and learns cool stuff about the Brit culture and the characters Damian plays!
Happy Holidays! 🙂
What you summarize here, Eli, is completely what we have envisioned as our – sort of – mission. If we accomplished a fraction of that, we would be thrilled! Thanks so much for your kindness and thoughtfulness!
I’m 100% agree with you about inequality in professional sports. I’m talking about the unprofessional sporting. About the fact that women do not call a dozen of their friends in their free time by asking: “Hey girl, let’s have some Dodgeball match this afternoon instead of yoga or shopping.” This inequality that you’re talking about is everywhere: in sports, science, in medicine, I will not list everything. It is a man’s world … until men come home to their smart and strong women. 😀
I so admire Helen. She is so smart, beautiful, delicate, fun, intelligent, talented and strong – she is in all the ways my kind of girl. And I know very well that as his wife and mother of his children – she has great merits, Damian, to have his top moments and to shine brightly as he shines in our eyes.
I love that you told him that at the backstage!!!
I’m with you! 😀 Let’s get him up against the wall next time! Hehe 😀 Did he answer something? Did Lewisto defend him?
Yes I think my point applies more to professional sports. I would still say though that the lack of support and enthusiasm we talk about in professional context also applies to amateur sports. In turn, women, and this is embedded in culture, do not internalize the team sports as much as men do. And I agree with you 100% that the inequality is everywhere and it applies to every line of work. It may be 21st century but it is still a men’s world…
I admire Helen in the same way that you do. And I also think you’re right that she’s a very positive influence on him.
Lewisto wasn’t there. This conversation happened when JaniaJania and I visited him backstage in April. And, yes, he did answer. He said, “I’m a feminist, too. So it’s a good match.” :)))
It’s absolutely a great match!