Something happens to footballers when they get on the pitch. They become almost human. By that I mean that they can become focussed, purposeful, freed of the mess of their other life as grotesquely overpaid and under-motivated playboys. That is the only explanation for Wayne Rooney’s first international goal in a year when he put England ahead against Switzerland in the first ten minutes of last night’s game.
Humans have the ability to walk into a different arena and become a different person. When the media rightly attack Rooney for cheating on his wife they make a mistake if they, like BBC commentator Mark Lawrenson, bring the controversy into sports coverage with a dig about his being the first to score.
The dilemma is best summed up in the Mirror’s photo caption today “The morals of an alley cat perhaps, but the ability of a genius”. The question is, as with many astonishingly talented men (and they’re usually men) at the top of the tree in sport, business and politics – can you get one without the other?
History shows that rarely happens.
The England team have weathered the storm and are into the last 16 of the World Cup. As usual, certain characters have emerged from the team such as goal scorer Jermaine Defoe or manager Fabio Capello to take the spotlight and portray the ‘personality’ of the England team as a whole – a personality that may well be based on fact, or the manipulation of public feeling at the time. The success of Wednesday is cause for English celebration certainly, but one look at news headlines reveals a hyper-confidence generated by the press. The Guardian’s sports headline read ‘Mission Accomplished’ while the Telegraph stated ‘Bring On The Germans’ when in actual fact, the team played Slovenia and the result was only 1-0.
The promise of the forthcoming England vs. Germany match has ensured that the victory over Slovenia and the draws in the earlier group games are nothing but a hazy memory as the English press fill the public with promises – The Daily Express’ headline was ‘Land of Hope and Glory’. Forget the team’s inability to ease to the top of their group, the media – and therefore much of the public too – have a distinct tunnel vision for the final on July 11th. Read the rest of this entry »
