Football, Olympians and celebrity

12 Aug 2012

A guest post by John Bradley

Like the title and homepage suggests, the primary function of my site is to create debate and discussions about what interests me. And although I’m relatively new to this website malarkey, I wondered if you guys needed something new. So I’ve decided to mix things up a little and invite occasional guest bloggers to my site, with the hope of enhancing the standard of versatility of opinion coming your way. Let me know if there are some specific people who you’d like me to get for you.

This weeks’ guest blog is from John Bradley, football commentator for ESPN and LFCTV. Follow his encyclopaedic knowledge and message him here @JBcommentator

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Football, Olympians and celebrity

I remember the day London was awarded the 2012 Olympics, I saw the joy and jubilation in the capital of the country and it was a memorable sight.

Then, I wondered what the effect would be on the rest of the country. Many Northern people, as I am, felt a little disassociated from it – as they do with many of the events based down there.

I’ve spent a few days in London in the past week and seen how the capital has embraced it, I’ve spoken to people who have travelled from far and wide to be part of the Olympic experience and I’ve seen children inspired by what they’ve seen.

Apart from the football that is.

I love football, it’s been the staple diet of my life since childhood, be it playing or talking about the game. I’m afraid to say though that the Olympic football tournament has left a sour taste in my mouth.

Ignorance towards Olympic football

What concerned me most though was the booing of ‘Team GB’s’ Craig Bellamy at Old Trafford for their opening game.

This is a man who will always divide opinion….and talking opinions….Craig has never been short of them. What the supporters failed to comprehend was that they were actually jeering and booing their own player. They were there to support a British team taking part in the Olympics for the first time since 1960, but couldn’t put petty club rivalries aside to see through much of that ignorance.

Of course, Bellamy had the last laugh by opening the scoring for Great Britain in that game with Senegal and saw the jeers turn to cheers in one of the greatest shows of hypocrisy witnessed in a UK sporting venue.

It was the sort of behaviour that shows why football shouldn’t be an Olympic sport, or perhaps shouldn’t have been an Olympic sport in this country and left me feeling rather downhearted.

Watching Wiggins

That mood changed when I was fortunate enough to witness Bradley Wiggins win gold in the cycling time trial at Hampton Court, although that itself left me a little mentally anguished.

My problem with attending was that I’d watched family and friends apply for Olympic tickets unsuccessfully. I saw my 11 year old nephew devastated he couldn’t attend the cycling he has loved since birth, and here’s me – a person who hadn’t applied for a ticket sat around the people who had worked so hard to get them.

I wouldn’t have swapped that ticket for anything in the world, but it did leave me with a sense of guilt.

I despise celebrity; I despise the way that all these freeloaders have their jolly boy outings to the events where Britain is expected to go well. Seeing David Cameron wearing a ‘Team GB’ tracksuit emphasises how politicians and celebrities will do anything to get themselves on the front of a tabloid newspaper.

Amazing Olympians over shoddy celebrity

The feats of these Olympians has astounded me, the hard work they put in with little financial reward, all for that coveted gold medal and their name in lights for a few days. Many will be able to nip down the chippy for their tea next week without being recognised, and that is wrong.

Instead of filling our screens with Big Brother, Towie, Desperate Scousewives and Geordie Shore that purports to be entertainment we should learn more about these wonderful Olympians, about the hard work and sacrifice they make to be the very best they can in their respective field. I don’t begrudge them making a few quid either by selling products on TV – although, I do cringe every time I see Mark Cavendish (a man I who I like immensely for his talent, dedication and sheer bloody-mindedness) doing his lovely head and shoulders combover.

They are the people in this country who deserve our maximum respect; the people who don’t are the ones who are blatantly trying to ride their shirt tails for a few votes or a piece of personal glory. Unfortunately for us all, that is the world in which we now live.

Roll on the new season

As for football; well, football fans can now revert to normal, there is no Team GB anymore and it’s time to go back to sitting in the stands through hot and cold weather, celebrating success or clinging to any little crumb of comfort.

I wouldn’t miss it for the world.

Comments

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austinorton 9 pts

Get Robbie Savage to do a blog, very honest and brave with his opinions. Would be interesting to see Robbie do a blog on something other than football as well.

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Jaddle 5 pts

When you talk about Team GB football, do you include the women's team as well? You make no mention of them. The good that the exposure of the Olympics brought them, their conduct, their good football and the crowds they drew made their Olympic experience very positive. I am sorry that you overlooked that in your post.

CraiigCB11 6 pts

@Jaddle It was also a great experience for the men. Irrespective of what people may view it as or whether they should be there.

Craig Bellamy was not booed at Old Trafford. Ive heard this falsehood before. This is not the case. Any short lived booing at the game was for other issues from Senegal tackling to ref decisions, some of which occurred while GB players were in possession. The atmosphere at old trafford was excellent throughout for the GB team.

bigdog1976 5 pts

I agree what a better way to show, that hard work and dedication, is better than having boob jobs and sex on screen to get noticed and make a decent living!

BellyLFC 5 pts

Not a great article, just a load of nonsense really. Any man could have wrote it. Not insightful or interesting, just rambling which for John is common. I have watched JB a lot in recent years, being a LFC fan. Seems a decent enough guy but always terrified to voice an opinion, afraid to upset the popular opinion with one of his own. I just find it difficult to take to a man like that, a sheep who will follow opinion just to keep his gold star that teacher gave him for being a good boy. Another irritating trait is his constant name dropping and desperation to be liked and known as a "celebrity" with celebrity friends. I always get the feeling when listening to John that he is seconds away from mentioning his meeting with one of oh so many famous friends. Its great and all but I am a football fan, I want to hear about football, not what a guy desperate to be liked and popular has to say about some guy semi famous he met 3 years ago at a petrol station. So a poor first effort Joey as you could have done better and got someone who really knew the game in and someone not afraid to stand up and voice an opinion. There is always next time, I guess.

Kopite_Chris78 5 pts

Great article JB but what about the constant comparison between Olympians and Premier League Footballers by the media and ‘middle England’ which has become embarrassing.

These Olympic Games have been amazing, really good stuff to watch and get behind and be proud of, but then why do some feel the need to start banging on about how bad other sportsmen are? Especially when they don't even watch the sport where the “nasty men” compete in and won't even watch the likes of diving, rowing or sailing when it's on Sky Sports 3 at 11pm next week.

I’ve nothing against anybody who is enjoying the Olympics it for what it is.

There are though, those that after 2 weeks of watching this, their only exposure to sport all year, have suddenly declared themselves as experts in the economics of football and have consistently banged on about how unfair it is that footballers get £100k a week, when next week if offered, they'd turn down the chance to watch live rowing/cycling/swimming and support the athletes they have been raving about.

The BBC chopped Grandstand because no one watched it and it was full of typical Olympic events. You give young lads, typically from deprived inner city areas, lots of money at a young age and a proportion will go a bit wild. No one ever mentions the other side, £2m donated by Drogba to build a hospital, Balotelli who gives a large percentage of his wage to fund incentives to get kids off the street in Italy, Bellamy and his foundation, the other foundations set up by other players.

Terrestrial TV blew away the likes of cycling, swimming and rowing in favour of broadcasts like period drama and soaps because that’s what this Olympic loving public wanted. You can catch most sports on satellite TV on obscure channels but how many watch them currently?

You rightly say look at the bile on TV. Big Brother, TOWIE, Eastenders. Truth is the vast majority care more about some fictional characters on TV than they do about sportsmen or women. It's the sheer hypocrisy of it all that annoys me. Next week this vast majority will want to know about who killed who in Eastenders rather than how these amazing athletes got on after the Olympics, or complain to Points of View when Emmerdale is moved to broadcast a football match.

To label all footballers are abhorrent, insolent, spoilt brats is as much a crime as tuning in for 2 weeks then casting aside these new ‘heroes’ to watch the next big reality show.

As Rory Smith rightly pointed out this morning:

There are few better examples of dedication in any sport than Yaya Toure, humble, hard-working and a serious competitor. The fact he’s paid 200k a week (plus) is irrelevant. He wasn't when he started. Olympians wouldn't turn it down. Better it goes to the players than the owners/corporations. Olympic stories are full of sacrifice. Plenty of players have made just as many. Some are genuinely unpleasant, others just happen to be good at something that's richly rewarded. Odd to chastise them all.

Colin1882 5 pts

The wonderful thing for me was how articulate and modest and courteous our athletes were compared to our footballers.

Football in this country and many others is almost tribal. You go to support your team through thick and thin. Olympic sports are different in that you admire the best in the world regardless of nationality.

I do not think any professional sport that has an international platform - golf,tennis,football - should be an Olympic event (nor should synchronised diving/swimming or gymnastic dancing).

The games would not have happened without political support and the games have been a credit to this country so perhaps politicians are entitled to bask in the reflected glory.

Perhaps a more relevant issue is how many tickets went to the sponsors.

Let us not spoil what was a magnificent spectacle of organisation and sporting prowess that will be remembered for generations.

gnella 5 pts

agree with you on the freeloaders and mostly the politicians john.im irish and it sticks in my throat the way all our politicians are waxing lyrically about our boxers who had a good tourny.

its obvious most of them have zero knowledge and no interest in the sport and would probably walk past most of these people in the street.

they have unashamedly turned up in the excel arena for photo opportunities and a chance to spurt some load of shite to the media.THE BLOOD BOILS

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