Footballers or Brats?


I love football. It's a beautiful game. Somehow, growing up in Australia, I developed a love of the game as a child. Those of you unfamiliar with the sports culture of Australia, and in particular, the culture in the 70's and 80's, should note that football at that time was not a loved sport. we were inundated with Rugby League and cricket. I tried to watch League but found it clumsy and brash. The season seemed to last forever with the only reprieve arriving in summer with a 'caseload' of cricket.

My brother and I were limited to a one hour show on a Sunday morning which gave an overview of all the weeks matches. For some reason, the FA Cup final was always televised live even though none of the years cup fixtures had been televised! I would stay up late, surrounded by newspaper paraphanalia commenting on match and player stats, and yell my heart out at the screen.

At about age 13, I began buying the english magazines Shoot and Match, reading voraciously about the players and clubs. I developed crushes on several players. This I could not talk about with my girlfriends as a) they wouldn't of had any idea who these guys were, and b) they didn't belong to the bands Duran Duran or Adam and the Ants!
My love for the game probably started as a seed planted in my head from my mothers stories of living in England and the fact that although she lived kilometres from the football field, could hear the fans singing and chanting like they were next door. I remember thinking, '....no way mum, that couldn't happen....they're only singing...'. How little I knew!

So, why have I titled this blog 'Footballers or Brats', I hear you ask. Well. I was watching the Chelsea v Liverpool match yesterday. The game was a good one with tight passing and lots of shots on goal from both sides. Yet, in the closing minutes of the match an incident occurred which disapointed me greatly. Jose Reina (Liverpool keeper), made a fair challenge on Eidur Gudjohnson (Chelsea forward) Shortly after, Chelsea winger Arjen Robben, whilst walking behind Reina, provoked him to turn around and shove him in the face. Ok, I dont condone that shove but we need to put this in perspective. It was a little shove. I would be surprised if it would even knock a 5 yr old off balance! But what happened? Arjen Robben went to ground, holding his face and making a 'meal of it'.

The guy I was with, who happens to be a Rugby Union fan, made the comment,"...that would never happen in Rugby...". And let's face it, it wouldn't. It embarrases me that grown men, with incredible skill, combine this with such amateur theatrics. Ok...its a contact sport, so people are going to be tackled. They are going to go down. But this overcompensation they seem to have adopted over the years is getting out of hand. I think they should be yellow and indeed red carded more often for this.

With the World Cup coming up, I reckon I will run a competition for the best 'dive'. I will award the player with the most elaborate and uncalled for dive, with an award(I am yet to come up with a name for it yet), and will award the country with the highest average of dives an award too.