Footballers or Celebrities?

The tabloids in recent weeks have been awash with stories circling John Terry’s affair and Ashley Cole’s separation and there now seems to be a thinner line between celebrity and footballer. Once a footballer progresses in the world of football, he expects to be treated as a celebrity and this shouldn’t be the case. After the recent Bridge/Terry scandal huge disruption has been caused in the England squad resulting in Wayne Bridge effectively retiring from the national squad and no doubt rifts in the team will rear their ugly heads in the summer.

The media glorify top footballers but this also means the paparazzi are i place to pounce on any scandal a footballer is involved in, however I place the blame on the prima donna footballers themselves who flash their wealth, celebrity status and act outrageously. Football should be kept on the pitch and the news headlines should be about the events that occurred on the field, the fantastic goals, controversial decisions and nail biting moments.

We only have to cast our minds back a month to remember Arsenal star Jay Emmanual-Thomas being arrested at the wheels of his new hundred thousand pound sports car. The nineteen year old has only had one appearance for the gunners and yet has the money to spend on a sports car most of us could only dream of. It can be argued that the celebrity culture has always been present in the world of football, characters such as George Best and Paul Gascoigne suffered alcoholism but with the media so prominent today footballers have an even greater responsibility to act appropriately.

Football is the beautiful game but the culture that surrounds it is immoral such as the top footballers being paid in the region of  a hundred thousand a week. We must remember that footballers have a duty to be respectful as they are role models to millions of children worldwide and the young generation must not have their morals twisted by immature footballers. Hopefully top footballers will soon stop being in the headlines for affairs and start being there for the right reasons such as playing the great game. Maybe they will learn from Terry that their actions have consequences (such as being stripped of England captaincy in Terry’scase) and think before they act so immaturely.