Unsung heroes

This undated photo from video released via the Thai NavySEAL Facebook Page on Wednesday, July 11, 2018, shows rescuers hold an evacuated boy inside the Tham Luang Nang Non cave in Mae Sai, Chiang Rai province, in northern Thailand. A daring rescue mission in the treacherous confines of a flooded cave in northern Thailand has saved all 12 boys and their soccer coach who were trapped deep within the labyrinth, ending a grueling 18-day ordeal that claimed the life of an experienced volunteer diver and riveted people around the world. (Thai NavySEAL Facebook Page via AP)

THE greatest show of football has been going on this past month, but for many around the world, the only team that mattered was the Wild Boars. The outpouring of joy when the young team emerged safe and sound from the flooded cave in Thailand rivalled any World Cup final.

Unsurprisingly, social media was awash with posts of appreciation for not only the rescue team but also hundreds of the “swarms of men and women” from Thailand and around the world – as Australian doctor-diver Richard Harris called them – who contributed everything from catering, equipment to their blood and sweat to the mission.