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Olympians versus footballers

J

jimmyb

Milija Aleksic
The past couple of weeks has really brought home to me how much more rounded, as human beings, our cyclists, athletes, rowers etc are than our footballers.

Far more grounded; far more humble; far more professional; far more aware and respectful of the fact that they are so lucky to do something that they love as a job; far more appreciative of the support that they receive.

They rarely enjoy the limelight; they get paid peanuts by comparison to footballers; when interviewed, they are polite, happy and interesting; they don't appear to believe that the world owes them; they're not surly or monosyllabic; their passion and enthusiasm is abundantly evident.

Such a contrast to footballers.

Of course, background and education has played a part in some cases. So has circumstance (footballers are in the public eye all year round). And of course I am generalising to an extent (though not without justification).

But I can't help but think that more could be done; that, somehow, our football authorities, coaches and clubs are failing young footballers in some respects. They're failing to provide them with a moral compass or positive role models. They're failing to teach them how to become proper adults.

Young footballers grow up seeing senior footballers diving; cheating, snarling; arguing; driving flash cars; going out to clubs; behaving contemptuously towards mere mortals; barely tolerating the few demands that are made of them. And that's what they will copy unless they are shown an alternative.

I don't know what needs to be done or whether the will is there to do it. Perhaps it is a forlorn hope. But I sure hope that the effort is made. It would be nice to be able to feel some affinity with and respect for our footballers once again.
 
Great post.

I can never really get behind the English national football team, because at worst I hate some of the players, and at the very best I feel indifferent to them. And I also hate a lot of the English fans.

It's been really nice to feel patriotic during these Olympics, thanks to the aforementoned nature of our athletes (as well as the fans).

And it's also been great to see athletes, despite being incredibly competitive with each other, still treating each other with respect and dignity (unlike the aggressive and dishonest whingers, divers and hackers that abound in football).

Even the pundits are way better than Hansen and Lawro! (Shame Lineker has still made an appearance.)
 
it would be interesting to give the athletes 100k a week and see what they are like 5 years later
 
totally agree. must be the money that is thrown at them. has to be .

ok cyclist apparently are minted, im talking about Wiggins, I was told the other week that he earned something like £2m this year (prob more might be less) but most of these Athletes probably have to be sponsored by a company, a sports brand or someone else just to compete. Too much money in football and brick players (average prem players) are prob on 5k to 10k a week.

Until there is a wage cap in football, and lets face it it would have to be brought down to £20k a week, football will not change. Fans will have to pay big money for tickets, footballers will always be cnuts, and other sportsman will have to work 100 times as hard just to get the recognition a footballer gets.
 
galeforce said:
it would be interesting to give the athletes 100k a week and see what they are like 5 years later
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It would indeed.

But I believe that, because they have been taught good principles and given sound guidance throughout their formative years, they would handle it well.
 
galeforce said:
it would be interesting to give the athletes 100k a week and see what they are like 5 years later
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I think this is a lot of it. Athletes are completely in touch with "normal" people. They most likely consider themselves no different. This being in large part due to living a relatively normal life due to more modest earnings.

Compare and contrast to your average footballer, molly-coddled since pre-teens. Living in an artificial bubble, with multi millions in the bank, first car is a Ferrari, home is a 10 bed mansion, every complication is removed from life and handled for you - save which wannabe sleb tart to poke this week.

All of which is due to and driven by money.
 
But I can't help but think that more could be done; that, somehow, our football authorities, coaches and clubs are failing young footballers in some respects. They're failing to provide them with a moral compass or positive role models. They're failing to teach them how to become proper adults.

Part of the problem is that they're treated as assets from a young age, given professional contracts and silly money, as the clubs are afraid of letting one get away. This again leads the players to think they're "special" and they have no real connection to ordinary people, many of them have completely lost the connection with the fans. All they do is kick a ball around for a couple of hours every day and play videogames. It used to be hard work and long days until you actually made it, giving a much greater sense of accomplishment.

Dedicated athletes train 2 or 3 times as much and lead very strict lives. The best footballers are incredibly fit though, the stop-start nature of football is very demanding.
 
People said this about Rugby players after we won the World Cup in 2003.

They also said it about Cricket players after we won the Ashes in 2005.

A lot of those though showed themselves to be major tacos as soon as the fame and fortune started coming.
 
GinolaGinolaGinola said:
totally agree. must be the money that is thrown at them. has to be .

ok cyclist apparently are minted, im talking about Wiggins, I was told the other week that he earned something like £2m this year (prob more might be less) but most of these Athletes probably have to be sponsored by a company, a sports brand or someone else just to compete. Too much money in football and brick players (average prem players) are prob on 5k to 10k a week.

Until there is a wage cap in football, and lets face it it would have to be brought down to £20k a week, football will not change. Fans will have to pay big money for tickets, footballers will always be cnuts, and other sportsman will have to work 100 times as hard just to get the recognition a footballer gets.
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Apart from the very top cyclists, most make only an average living unless they're on the bigger teams. Riders outside the world tour often have to get by on peanuts while trying to build a career. They do it because they love it, something many modern footballers don't. They love the lifestyle, not the game.
 
There's also the class issue.

Footballers are usually working class, so become nouveau riche. They have the money, but never develop the taste or behaviour befitting it.

To pursue minority sports like those at the Olympics, those sportsmen tend to need financial family backing when they are children - buying equipment, taking them to competitions etc. Without the support structures that big football clubs provide, it's often only (upper) middle class kids who can participate in those sports. You don't exactly get rowing or equastrian in Tottenham do you!

In terms of behaviour then, I think middle class people at least understand the expectation that questionable activities should be done covertly (not posing for photos in brothels etc). Therefore the associated scandal tends to be the exception, rather than the norm.
 
I've also found that NFL and NBA players generally give better interviews than the average British footballer. They earn just as much, perhaps more, have just as or more deprived backgrounds, and have been treated like kings though high school, college and professional ranks. Even Patrick Ewing learned to talk coherently eventually.
 
Footballers are ordinary working-class people given 50,000 pounds a week and told that they all have the potential to be the world's greatest ever players by the club that buys and then pays them.

I suspect that if one of us was offered a hundred-fold wage increase by a massive company that then also told you that you had the potential to revolutionize the industry you were working on, and thus deserve every penny of your massive wage, you'd become ****y and overly arrogant too.

There is an inherent danger to this idolization of footballers as gods and their resultant increasing distance from real society and real people. Few bother to even craft their entry/statements from a club now, preferring to let their agent do it. People will pick up on it eventually; no one will support an entity that blatantly couldn't care less about you. Football as a whole will suffer as people drift to more reasonable sports.

Watching the Olympics, the humility of the competitors, the recognition that they are lucky to gain sporting and global recognition for something they enjoy doing and have dedicated their lives to....football needs to fix itself. Footballers are people like us, and the more that fact fades, the more the sport will suffer.
 
DubaiSpur said:
I suspect that if one of us was offered a hundred-fold wage increase by a massive company that then also told you that you had the potential to revolutionize the industry you were working on, and thus deserve every penny of your massive wage, you'd become ****y and overly arrogant too.
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The recent behaviour of some of the bankers and others in the finance industry support your point. Crashing the world economy hasn't dented their arrogance or sense of entitlement to large bonuses.

I also remember that many of those arrested for hooliganism at France 1998 were stockbrokers working in the City.
 
Gutter Boy said:
There's also the class issue.

Footballers are usually working class, so become nouveau riche. They have the money, but never develop the taste or behaviour befitting it.

To pursue minority sports like those at the Olympics, those sportsmen tend to need financial family backing when they are children - buying equipment, taking them to competitions etc. Without the support structures that big football clubs provide, it's often only (upper) middle class kids who can participate in those sports. You don't exactly get rowing or equastrian in Tottenham do you!

In terms of behaviour then, I think middle class people at least understand the expectation that questionable activities should be done covertly (not posing for photos in brothels etc). Therefore the associated scandal tends to be the exception, rather than the norm.
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This.

I'd also like to add that whilst it's admirable that our athletes are entirely down to earth, doesn't anyone else find them just a little bit boring?
 
scaramanga said:
This.

I'd also like to add that whilst it's admirable that our athletes are entirely down to earth, doesn't anyone else find them just a little bit boring?
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Would you rather they acted like ****s then, I far prefer this bunh of Olympians over 95% of footballers
 
jts1882 said:
I've also found that NFL and NBA players generally give better interviews than the average British footballer. They earn just as much, perhaps more, have just as or more deprived backgrounds, and have been treated like kings though high school, college and professional ranks. Even Patrick Ewing learned to talk coherently eventually.
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Could this to be to do with the "college draft" system? I know that's how it works with those two leagues you mentioned, is that the system in the MLS as well? If you take the American players in the PL, they've always come across quite likeable and balanced - Keller, Friedel, Howard, Dempsey, McBride IMO fit into this category.

Is this because these players have had to go through education to a relatively high level, played college sports and developed (as a player and as a person) in a university environment with many other young adults, most of whom aren't going to become super rich? I know that football is the "working man's game" so introducing such a system would never be accepted, but could it be the difference?
 
Great post.

Think you nailed it mentioning background and education. Money can never buy class and paying a chav 150k a week will stay true to his roots.
A lack of morals is prevalent in football players unfortunately.
 
There's also a sense of failure in Olympic sports which you just don't get in football. If an athlete stops working hard or behaves badly they'll loose sponsorships and the right to compete as their place is taken by someone else. They need to keep themselves in peak condition just to stay in contention and that requires a discipline that brings with it grounding.

If a footballer decides they can't be bothered or act like a **** then they'll still be offered a 5 year multi million pound contract somewhere.
 
Ginolius said:
There's also a sense of failure in Olympic sports which you just don't get in football. If an athlete stops working hard or behaves badly they'll loose sponsorships and the right to compete as their place is taken by someone else. They need to keep themselves in peak condition just to stay in contention and that requires a discipline that brings with it grounding.

If a footballer decides they can't be bothered or act like a **** then they'll still be offered a 5 year multi million pound contract somewhere.
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There's a huge difference between team sports and individual sports. As an individual you answer to your sponsors and if they're not happy they'll just take their money elsewhere. It's different when you're the "property" of a team.
 
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