I’m sure I’m not alone out there amongst football
fans when I sometimes find myself shouting; “talk about the bloody game!” It
seems that in today’s world of instant outrage and social media that what
happens on the pitch is actually the very last thing that interests people.
Then again, I’m about to be part of that very problem, by writing a piece that
has nothing to do with off side traps, short corner routines or good old
fashioned goals but everything to do with football’s burning sense of moral
indignation.
Everyone seems angry about things, apart from the
things that actually seem to matter. At the weekend we had long and loud
whining from the Stoke City manager Tony Pulis about the scourge of diving in
the modern game, particularly the antics of pantomime villain and agent
provocateur Luis Suarez. I don’t want to see people cheat and dive but, Pulis’
rant that this is the worst thing that currently affects a global sport and
pastime enjoyed by millions around the world is as depressing as it is
misguided. In that very same game there was an incident where one player
stamped on another. This got lost in the shuffle; diving is the real evil. For
a long time the issues surrounding John Terry and Anton Ferdinand seemed more
focussed on what it would mean for the ‘Premier League’ handshake than on
racial discrimination. Modern football is an angry place, always on the lookout
for what to be outraged about next and yet, almost without fail, it seems to
get its jock strap in a twist around the things that really matter least whilst
ballooning wide of the issues that should perhaps matter most.
Getting angry is not necessarily a negative thing,
let’s just be clear on that. Some of Mankind’s biggest and bravest steps have
been rooted in anger; a world where everything was treated with shrugs of
indifference would be an undoubtedly worse place. I have no problem with people
calling for action and being upset about things that go on, a society that
passively endorses bad behaviour or doesn’t try to highlight things that it thinks
are wrong, regardless of whether you agree would not be one that I would like
to be a part of, and yet so many times these days I wish football, as something
that I am passionate about would learn to get over the trivialities and invest
this pent up aggression into something far more constructive than worrying
about what someone might have put on Twitter right down to not getting too
excessive with a goal celebration. The recent criticism of Newcastle’s
sponsorship by the loan company Wonga highlights this perfectly.
The announcement that one of English football’s
larger clubs will now be carrying the logo of a business that many consider to
be nothing more than a loan shark has been widely condemned, and it’s hard not
to agree with that stance. Commentators and MP’s alike have been quick to
highlight the morally dubious way in which Wonga, and short term, pay day loan
companies operate and to an extent I was happy to read that. The North East is
an area where many are struggling right now financially, and companies like
this prey on vulnerable people, those running out of options to turn to and
those that have little chance of paying back the loans. Many might think that
the hot air that football generates is way over the top, but in this case, the
Newcastle sponsorship deal asks serious questions of the sports already dubious
moral compass.
On the announcement of the deal, Nick Forbes, Leader
of Newcastle City Council was scathing in his views; "I'm appalled and
sickened that they (Wonga) would sign a deal with a legal loan shark. We see
the devastating consequences of people getting into financial difficulty and we
spend a lot of money each year helping people who are in debt through companies
like this…It's a sad indictment of the profit at any price culture at Newcastle
United…We are fighting hard to tackle legal and illegal loan sharking and
having a company like this right across the city on every football shirt that's
sold undermines all our work."
On a personal level, I found myself in complete agreement with
his words, a situation where a sense of moral indignation would be justified…
and yet I couldn’t help thinking, where was all this moral outcry a year or two
back when Hearts and Blackpool became the first to have Wonga emblazoned on
their shirts? Furthermore, if we are going to get on our moral high horse
around questionable sponsorship practices, why is this whole issue, and indeed
that of who invests in and controls our club not something that people question
more often?
Whether you agree with their practices or not Wonga are a
legitimate company that makes their money and provides their services in a
legal way. Is their name being on a replica kit far worse than that of brand of
alcohol or a betting firm? When known human rights abuser Thaksin Shinawatra
poured money into Manchester City, some spoke up, some got angry, but the
majority? They got on with things and enjoyed the new signings it brought on
the pitch. Furthermore the governing body thought he was a thoroughly fit and
proper person, and not a bad guy to play a round of golf with. Start scratching
beneath the surface of how certain Russian Oligarch’s came into money and
you’ll start to see things that might question whether they are really the sort
of people you want investing in the ‘national sport’.
My rather rambling point, is that there is nothing
wrong with speaking out against the Wonga deal if you, like I do, believe it to
be wholly inappropriate. Just because other instances where football sullies
itself haven’t been highlighted or debated doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t speak
up, a shrug of the shoulders and arguing that football has already fallen way
of any sort of moral high ground so what’s the point in ever questioning
anything is not the way to go. So by all means get angry about an issue like
this, but then apply this to the game as a whole.
This is a sport, a pastime, a passion that belongs
to the people that watch and play the game and everyone should be prepared to
stand up for it, not lose it to unscrupulous charlatans only in it to rip
others off, characters with loose morals and sometime criminal histories.
Getting angry at things is not something to be shied away from, if there is a
cause that you believe in, something threatening or negatively affecting a game
that you are passionate about then do something about it and speak up. Just
remember though, it takes a lot of effort to be angry and it needs to be
channelled and used at the right times; yes diving is ridiculous and cheating
to be admonished, yes footballers just like all of us can be idiots on Twitter
or Facebook and yes footballers swear back at people that swear at them first…
but if everyone saved up their energy and outrage and channelled it towards the
things that actually matter and that affect the bigger picture, then I’m sure
we’d all feel a little better and maybe, just maybe make some sort of difference.
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