Yesterday we saw English football fans in a predicament. Moral indignation versus seeing their team stomp to victory. From the start of last nights friendly international between England and Egypt at Wembley, fans booed John Terry. Whenever he touched the ball they jeered. At half-time England were down 1-0. Manager Fabio Capello could be seen on the side-line pulling his hair out, however, with second-half substitutions England managed to turn the game around to win 3-1. Now, I'm not a football fan by any means, but anyone living in Europe can't have failed to miss the catalist for this behaviour. Why were England fans booing one of their own?
Last nights match should be seen as a warning to English Premier League footballers that even English fans have their limits. Chelsea player and former Engand team captain, John Terry, was caught-out in his private life, an extra-marital affair with a team-mate's girlfriend. I'm not here to go into details, they are easy enough to find on-line, but as with golfer Tiger Woods, fans seem to be taking the moral high-ground. We've already seen Terry forced to hand over the captain's armband and the aggrieved team-mate has refused to play along-side him. Supporters of Terry might say, isn't it enough that he plays well and that his team wins, after all that's what he's paid for? It's not just that though, is it? He's paid a fortune. He lives life in the public eye, buying flashy cars, going to swanky London nightclubs and jetting off to his second home in Dubai. I'm not even a fan and I've read all about these things, just imagine how his lifestyle impresses his most dedicated fans. They are the one's who buy the season tickets, who buy all the promotional paraphernalia. His supporters put him up on a pedestal and what he should have have learned is that it's very easy to fall.
With his fame and fortune comes responsibility and accountability. No one says that he should be perfect. Marital infidelity is not usually something that you read about on the front page of the tabloids, if it's your neighbour that is, but this isn't your neighbour. This is someone who courted celebrity, profited from celebrity and someone who young children aspire to be like.
The scoreboard showed a victory for the England team yesterday. The booing and jeering ceased for the second half, probably because the fans realized that they were affecting the whole team. Let's hope that a lesson was learned by all. Let's hope that the players and managers and sponsors have learned that their supporters do have power. They can vote with their feet, by not not showing up or as in yesterday's match, with their voices. If you are going to be a sporting hero, be one on and off the pitch.
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