Thai cave diver Rick Stanton reflects on the mission to save 13 lives that transformed his own

By Don Riddell, CNN

Updated 0033 GMT (0833 HKT) January 31, 2022

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(CNN)Not everyone is a football fan, but very rarely do you encounter somebody who is so repulsed by the beautiful game that they would describe it as «abhorrent.» But that's how Rick Stanton used to feel.

At school in the 1960s and 70s, he says he could swim and run, but any time a ball came towards him, he recalls a sense of «complete panic.»And there can be no misunderstanding his stance on the matter. «I just didn't get it at all. Not interested,» he told CNN, as he remembered lunchtimes sitting well away from the action «with the uncool kids who didn't kick balls around.»He jokes that he's only heard of