As far as the footballers getting involved with this it is because the government has been advised that they are role models for the youth of today & are admired for their ability (not their earnings of course), personally i have yet to meet a footballer with an IQ larger than his boot size.
As for national newspaper coverage of this story it would depend on how soon after this tragic event that the details were released into the public domain & whether the newsdesks concerned have collated enough to run the story & if so how many column inches it should be given. In my opinion it would seem that information was slow to emerge & news rooms only have a certain amount of time they can spend chasing information as they have deadlines to meet. Nationals cover news from all over the planet & only have finite resorces. Regarding stabbings & shootings information tends to be released sooner as the police appeal for witnesses as someone has committed these crimes & needs to be apprehended, whereas this appears to be a tragic accident & will be covered by the local press as he is from that area & is of more interest to local people. On reading this piece it would appear local papers sent news teams round to the parents house who were willing to talk to them & so the story is given more prominence.
On a personal note this is a tragic loss & i am sure he will be sadly missed by all who knew him