The Premiership footballer hatred vortex

[Maggy J]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-19281103

The achievements of Team GB at the Olympics have led to a wave of criticism of footballers. They've been lambasted for being overpaid, arrogant underachievers. But why do some people hate footballers so much?
Ex-England striker Michael Owen knew there was trouble ahead when the Olympics started.
In a post on his blog he wrote: "I turned to my wife, Louise, while sat in our lounge at home watching the Olympics, and said, 'just you watch footballers get hammered once this is over'. And here we are two weeks on with the bandwagon in full flow."

I've felt like this for a lot longer than the Olympics.
Because of greed the beautiful game has been almost ruined..

[denphone]

Yes there are footballers who are greedy and arrogant but there are also many footballers who do a lot for charity and for other things so l don't think we can put them all in the same bracket.

For every Barton, there is a Niall Quinn, who donated his testimonial match revenue to charity. For every star with a dubious personal life, there is a plethora of unremarkable happily married ones.

Even controversial footballers like Craig Bellamy and Emmanuel Adebayor are also noted funders and organisers of charity initiatives.

"People are always nostalgic about the past, that's how we are, it doesn't mean it was any better, there are still gentlemen in the game," says Steve Claridge, another player turned pundit.

"People make opinions about footballers based on nothing, on things that they read that usually aren't true, but they stick."

There have of course been more recent examples of gentlemanly behaviour.

In 2001 Paolo Di Canio was awarded the Fifa Fair Play award after he opted to catch the ball rather than shoot at an open goal when Everton goalkeeper Paul Gerrard was injured on the ground.

[RizzyKing]

I as many on here are am old enough to remember when the main point for a footballer was the prride in the shirt they wore and team they played for. Money flooded into the game and we have had nothing but mercenaries ever since no care for the team their fans or the history of a club those only get mentioned when they sign for a team trying to sound good and go straight out the window when more pound signs turn up. Our footballers should feel some shame about how they carry on when compared to our olympians some of whom train under far harsher conditions without half the resources and achieve so much more.

I have been a fan of LFC for 34 years and in that time i have seen the change and it isn''t a good change for us fans or for football as a whole it is a sport that has forgotten it's roots and those who made it the game it is.

[v0id]

Footballers should be paid expenses only and should have to get a real job if they can't get a sponsorship deal

[Maggy J]

Originally Posted by denphone

Yes there are footballers who are greedy and arrogant but there are also many footballers who do a lot for charity and for other things so l don't think we can put them all in the same bracket.

I suspect that many of the Olympians we recently saw also give of their time to charity out of a very busy training schedule.There are sportsmen and women from other sports who also earn vast sums of money as professionals but have a better track record behaviour wise and get more respect from the public as a consequence.

[Damien]

It's not really a fair comparison. First of all the following post talks in generalities, there are exceptions to the assumptions I make but I believe that, in general terms, those assumptions are sound.

Footballers tend to come from working class backgrounds, it is a working class sport in this country. In these communities education may not be as good or as valued as other parts of society and you're also more likely to come from a 'difficult' family background. I don't think that is unfair to say. Now contrast this with the Olympians who tend to be drawn from more middle class and upper class backgrounds. They tend to compete in more niche sports and also sports that have a higher barrier to entry. How many kids have access to a rowing lake? A tennis court? How many kids even have regular access to a swimming pool?

Football is one of the few sports that doesn't really have much of a barrier to entry whereas a lot, albeit not all, of the Olympic sports require some sort of investment. Additionally these Olympians need to come from families that will continue this kind of investment for years to come before they can see money from UK Sport. Footballers have no such requirement.

We're already skewing the demographics here. Olympians will, typically, be from much wealthier families. 40% of our Olympians came from private schools even! People from these backgrounds have a much better chance of being better educated and better behaved.

It doesn't stop there though. Next we have what happens to these athletes once they've entered the sport.

Football is one of the most competitive sports in the world. Clubs around the world spend vast sums of money to be the first to that special player. As a result they get to players very young, they need too, and take them on board to develop them. The sad result is that education is given lower priority as the child concentrates on their playing career. Worse is that given the riches involved in reaching he height of football it will automatically be the thing the child and, often their families, focus on.

As soon as they enter the senior teams then the fun really starts, they are given a lot of money, they attract a lot of phoney friends and a lot of female attention. They also come under the 24/7 spotlight of the press and all the pressure that comes with it. You try staying a balanced individual if that's your life before you're even 18/19/20!

Athletes don't have the same problem. They often can balance their sport with the rest of their life. There is no where near the same pressure on them, even if they're one of the few that start quite young. Additionally the relative lack of money in the sports means they often have to keep taking their educational seriously anyway. They also have the space to grow up without all that money, all that press attention, and all those pressures. Finally the fact that they don't get a lot of money and a lot of attention means they can quite easily remain more humble and grounded than their footballing counterparts.

So yes. Footballers aren't as well behaved as the Olympians we have seen. However the rather condescending attitude displayed by the press over the last week has been unwarranted. The demographics from which the two groups are drawn, the inequalities in the facilitates available to each of them, and the different pressures they face has rigged the game.

It's a very complex set of issues and we need to focus on those root causes in our society rather than having a cheap shot at footballers.

[martyh]

Originally Posted by Damien

It's really a fair comparison.

The demographic from which most footballers are drawn tend tends to be the poorer working class and more likely to come from a family where education isn't as valued. This is a gross generalisation of course but it is true for a large proportion. Despite the money in football at the top level it is still one of the most universal, most accessible, and cheapest sports to play. ....................snip

Well i was all ready to lay into footballers en masse ,but after reading your excellent post it has made me think a bit

[Pierre]

Originally Posted by Damien

It's not really a fair comparison. First of all the following post takes in generalities, there are exceptions to the assumptions I make but I believe that, in general terms, those assumptions are sound. .............................

One of the best posts I've read on here in a long long time.

Well said.

We should keep off the bandwagon please.......

[mertle]

Originally Posted by Damien

It's not really a fair comparison. First of all the following post talks in generalities, there are exceptions to the assumptions I make but I believe that, in general terms, those assumptions are sound.

Footballers tend to come from working class backgrounds, it is a working class sport in this country. In these communities education may not be as good or as valued as other parts of society and you're also more likely to come from a 'difficult' family background. I don't think that is unfair to say. Now contrast this with the Olympians who tend to be drawn from more middle class and upper class backgrounds. They tend to compete in more niche sports and also sports that have a higher barrier to entry. How many kids have access to a rowing lake? A tennis court? How many kids even have regular access to a swimming pool?

Football is one of the few sports that doesn't really have much of a barrier to entry whereas a lot, albeit not all, of the Olympic sports require some sort of investment. Additionally these Olympians need to come from families that will continue this kind of investment for years to come before they can see money from UK Sport. Footballers have no such requirement.

We're already skewing the demographics here. Olympians will, typically, be from much wealthier families. 40% of our Olympians came from private schools even! People from these backgrounds have a much better chance of being better educated and better behaved.

It doesn't stop there though. Next we have what happens to these athletes once they've entered the sport.

Football is one of the most competitive sports in the world. Clubs around the world spend vast sums of money to be the first to that special player. As a result they get to players very young, they need too, and take them on board to develop them. The sad result is that education is given lower priority as the child concentrates on their playing career. Worse is that given the riches involved in reaching he height of football it will automatically be the thing the child and, often their families, focus on.

As soon as they enter the senior teams then the fun really starts, they are given a lot of money, they attract a lot of phoney friends and a lot of female attention. They also come under the 24/7 spotlight of the press and all the pressure that comes with it. You try staying a balanced individual if that's your life before you're even 18/19/20!

Athletes don't have the same problem. They often can balance their sport with the rest of their life. There is no where near the same pressure on them, even if they're one of the few that start quite young. Additionally the relative lack of money in the sports means they often have to keep taking their educational seriously anyway. They also have the space to grow up without all that money, all that press attention, and all those pressures. Finally the fact that they don't get a lot of money and a lot of attention means they can quite easily remain more humble and grounded than their footballing counterparts.

So yes. Footballers aren't as well behaved as the Olympians we have seen. However the rather condescending attitude displayed by the press over the last week has been unwarranted. The demographics from which the two groups are drawn, the inequalities in the facilitates available to each of them, and the different pressures they face has rigged the game.

It's a very complex set of issues and we need to focus on those root causes in our society rather than having a cheap shot at footballers.

exelent piece but felt premier players should never been picked rather embrace the olympic movement we should used players who would never got chance play for england, scotland, ireland & wales.

Maybe select 1 player from each nation as icon to be with the motely crew would my opinion been more sense.

I am sure those prem players was scared injury to prevent playing club football.

On demographics like monyan said this the problem of this country not getting everywhere and providing the building blocks for any background 2 excel in anysport whether they come from eton or any rundown town.

To me this is issue of social atitudes from hieacry.

We done fabalous but we should and could do better if we put our efforts into social mobility. Why cant poor family ofspring become sailor or showjumper at next olympics.

Its social snootyness which holds us back from all walks life and the access issues for certain areas for kids to get involved.

The obsticles need addressing. Fact 40% come from afluent areas means we ignoring alot of population. Comes from family, teachers, organisations, coaches to help those who want to try or become athlete in his/her chosen dream sport.

I am sure we can knock boundaries if we put mind to it. Those from poorer backgrounds get support and encouragement to persue there dreams.