Will the Olympics make us look at footballers in a new light

[Hoop Blah]

The maximum grant for olympic athletes is £26,000 p.a. and these arrogant soda are earning 10 X that. I guess unless the clubs or fans collectively kick them up the arse and give them a reality check, it'll never change.

I think the attitude is endemic to a chunk of society where they think the world owes them a living.

As for the maximum £26k grant, I'm not sure on the facts behind it, but I imagine the majority of the competitors earn a hell of a lot more than that through their sport as that's just the UK Sport grants you're talking about.

Cycling for example, got massive amounts of money to fund it, and the likes of Wiggins and Cavendish are paid millions by Team Sky for their day job.

Not doubting that the behaviour and attitude of the majority of the Olympic athelets puts a fair number of footballers of all ages to shame. I just don't think it's all to do with the money they're being paid.

[MouldyRoyal]

Jason Roberts has waded in on twitter:

"So the "Footballers can learn from Athletes" Bandwagon has started..no..it's what we can ALL learn from the Spirit of the Games and Athletes"

"Until I can go to a Game without being swore at, gestured at, having abusive songs aimed at me..it will be what we can ALL learn from the OG"

Whilst he's right, fan atmosphere is not a positive one, it sounds like he's making excuses "footballers will change, but you lot have to change first."

[cmonurz]

It’s difficult to think it extends much past the ridiculous sums of money you can earn even as, say, a League One footballer. And the collective of a lot of your mates, all of you 23 or 24 or so, earning that money too.

If you were paid £15k a week, you’d splash a bit of it around, wouldn’t you? And these guys are earning this money before they can even grow a proper beard. It’s a sub-culture.

[MouldyRoyal]

Don't disagree with that.

But the whinging from so many footballers from this shows that they have already failed to match up to the example set by the Olympians.

Jess Ennis had unbelievable pressure, expectation and financial reward lying on her results, did you see her bitch and moan? Course not.

[Hoop Blah]

It’s difficult to think it extends much past the ridiculous sums of money you can earn even as, say, a League One footballer. And the collective of a lot of your mates, all of you 23 or 24 or so, earning that money too.

If you were paid £15k a week, you’d splash a bit of it around, wouldn’t you? And these guys are earning this money before they can even grow a proper beard. It’s a sub-culture.

I've no problem with them splashing their cash on nice cars and big houses it's the attitude and behaviour that I think is the real issue isn't it? Otherwise it's just jealousy surely?

I don't see a lot of difference between the behaviour of professional footballers and 20'odd year old working class lads in Reading town centre boozing it up, causing trouble and chasing skirt or on their cheap lads holidays doing the same.

I don't think it's a football specific thing where these guys think they're above the law and can get away with what they want because they're big men in their social circles.

[Spirit of Elm Park]

lets be realistic here...not every footballer acts like a dick. Not every athlete acts like Phillips Odowu.

The base arguement should surely be aimed at the Audience. That is where the anger, the antagonism and the violence stems from....its part of the game though, Athletics et al have never been and never will be Tribal in the way Football is. I predict by october the olympics, along with the feel good factor will have dissapeared, and the 'goody' brigade will have f'd off back to their crochet or whatever it was that kept them off the streets, by which time the passion we all know and love will have returned.

Amen.

[T.O.G.]

One way to look at it is if football was funded as per olympic sports would it still be a national sport of this country? I suspect not as even the most hardened supporter of football can not disagree that the National teams performance at International level is at best mediocre! I personally don't know what the answer to the malaise in football is but I am certain that the current levels of investments required in clubs, players etc in unsustainable and will implode just like the world economy has!

[Alexander Litvinenko]

lets be realistic here...not every footballer acts like a dick. Not every athlete acts like Phillips Odowu.

The base arguement should surely be aimed at the Audience. That is where the anger, the antagonism and the violence stems from....its part of the game though, Athletics et al have never been and never will be Tribal in the way Football is. I predict by october the olympics, along with the feel good factor will have dissapeared, and the 'goody' brigade will have f'd off back to their crochet or whatever it was that kept them off the streets, by which time the passion we all know and love will have returned.

Amen.

But some footballers are such big dicks that they more than compensate for the 98% who aren't. And the publicity and the sums of money involved only serve to magnify that massively.

[Ian Royal]

I always refer this back to a question I heard Ashley Cole asked a few years ago.

Reporter: "So Ashley, if football wages were totally reset to zero and started again, who would be worth £100k a week?"
Ashley Cole: (without a moment of hesitation from the greedy fuk) "Me."

Obviously, we all know the correct answer is: "Well, £100k a week is an obscene amount of money and I don't think realistically any of us can say we would be right to earn that. But no one in their right mind is going to ask to be paid less than their peers. As a competitive sport filled with very determined young people with limited career spans, we're always going to be pushing for at least parity with the rest of our peers and generally that little bit more. That financial arms race has led to the massive wages we see now because clubs are willing to pay beyond their means. This all obviously makes it hard for us to relate to fans and for them to have any sympathy or empathy with us when we don't perform."

You don't see athletes earning as much, maybe at the very peak of their sport, but that's a tiny percentage of the overall number of athletes and I suspect a big drop down after that. You also don't see athletes in headlines for drink driving, nightclub fights, sex tapes, assault or rape. Whilst its only a tiny minority for footballers its a significantly noticable minority. there's far less sober dedication to being a footballer than there seems to be for being an athlete.

I can't see much changing because too many people worship the cretinous participants of our national sport and it's just an enormous self perpetuating beast with hundreds and thousands of parasites hanging off it that need to keep it going that way to earn their living, not just the footballers.

[frimmers3]

I always refer this back to a question I heard Ashley Cole asked a few years ago.

Reporter: "So Ashley, if football wages were totally reset to zero and started again, who would be worth £100k a week?"
Ashley Cole: (without a moment of hesitation from the greedy fuk) "Me."

Obviously, we all know the correct answer is: "Well, £100k a week is an obscene amount of money and I don't think realistically any of us can say we would be right to earn that. But no one in their right mind is going to ask to be paid less than their peers. As a competitive sport filled with very determined young people with limited career spans, we're always going to be pushing for at least parity with the rest of our peers and generally that little bit more. That financial arms race has led to the massive wages we see now because clubs are willing to pay beyond their means. This all obviously makes it hard for us to relate to fans and for them to have any sympathy or empathy with us when we don't perform."

You don't see athletes earning as much, maybe at the very peak of their sport, but that's a tiny percentage of the overall number of athletes and I suspect a big drop down after that. You also don't see athletes in headlines for drink driving, nightclub fights, sex tapes, assault or rape. Whilst its only a tiny minority for footballers its a significantly noticable minority. there's far less sober dedication to being a footballer than there seems to be for being an athlete.

I can't see much changing because too many people worship the cretinous participants of our national sport and it's just an enormous self perpetuating beast with hundreds and thousands of parasites hanging off it that need to keep it going that way to earn their living, not just the footballers.

http://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/s/21182 ... en_windows oh yes you do:)

[Ian Royal]

"Surrey Police said he had admitted full responsibility for the damage, adding that "following an offer of reparations to cover the costs of repairs by Mr Booth, the victims are satisfied that the matter can be dealt with without the need for criminal charges".

Police said no further action would be taken and that Booth's bail had been cancelled.

Earlier in the day, Australia's deputy team chief, Chris Fylder, said: "We expect higher standards from our athletes. This has been an embarrassing situation not just for rowing but for us as well."

So that's 1 out of over 10,000 athletes in a major event condensed into two weeks. And he's not even necessarily based here for more than these few weeks. And he's behaved himself since and seems to have dealt with it responsibly. There's also clearly been an immediate response from his authority criticising him. But different to Kenny Dalgleish defending Suarez to teh hilt when he's accused of racism.

[watfordroyal]

I always refer this back to a question I heard Ashley Cole asked a few years ago.

Reporter: "So Ashley, if football wages were totally reset to zero and started again, who would be worth £100k a week?"
Ashley Cole: (without a moment of hesitation from the greedy fuk) "Me."

Obviously, we all know the correct answer is: "Well, £100k a week is an obscene amount of money and I don't think realistically any of us can say we would be right to earn that. But no one in their right mind is going to ask to be paid less than their peers. As a competitive sport filled with very determined young people with limited career spans, we're always going to be pushing for at least parity with the rest of our peers and generally that little bit more. That financial arms race has led to the massive wages we see now because clubs are willing to pay beyond their means. This all obviously makes it hard for us to relate to fans and for them to have any sympathy or empathy with us when we don't perform."

You don't see athletes earning as much, maybe at the very peak of their sport, but that's a tiny percentage of the overall number of athletes and I suspect a big drop down after that. You also don't see athletes in headlines for drink driving, nightclub fights, sex tapes, assault or rape. Whilst its only a tiny minority for footballers its a significantly noticable minority. there's far less sober dedication to being a footballer than there seems to be for being an athlete.

I can't see much changing because too many people worship the cretinous participants of our national sport and it's just an enormous self perpetuating beast with hundreds and thousands of parasites hanging off it that need to keep it going that way to earn their living, not just the footballers.

POTD

But we do love the controversy of it all, the whole soap opera, villains & heroes, that's why we have these forums & spend time reading & writing on them when we should really be getting on with some work!

[Ian Royal]

You have to admit, if we really cared that much about how overpaid the bastards are, we'd all start going to non-league games and cancel our subscriptions to Sky sports. I'll be as big a hypocrite as everyone else come saturday as I enter the Mad stad to worship the overpaid primadonna bastards.

[Rev Algenon Stickleback H]

The base arguement should surely be aimed at the Audience. That is where the anger, the antagonism and the violence stems from....its part of the game though, Athletics et al have never been and never will be Tribal in the way Football is. I predict by october the olympics, along with the feel good factor will have dissapeared, and the 'goody' brigade will have f'd off back to their crochet or whatever it was that kept them off the streets, by which time the passion we all know and love will have returned.

Amen.

To an extent I do agree. Without that bit of needle, games don't usually have the same passion.

What I do find depressing though it that the support has swung so far towards slagging off the other fans, away from supporting your own team. Maybe it's something that people who didn't go to any Olympic events didn't get. It wasn't so much about everyone being nice to each other as fans encouraging their team. Call me out of touch if you will, but I'd have thought that was the object of support, not informing opposition fans that a garden shed is bigger than their ground.

What's worse is that such songs have become so cliched that everyone sings them wherever they go - who'd have thought all 92 league clubs were located in shotholes? - and they are just tired.

[winchester_royal]

lets be realistic here...not every footballer acts like a dick. Not every athlete acts like Phillips Odowu.

The base arguement should surely be aimed at the Audience. That is where the anger, the antagonism and the violence stems from....its part of the game though, Athletics et al have never been and never will be Tribal in the way Football is. I predict by october the olympics, along with the feel good factor will have dissapeared, and the 'goody' brigade will have f'd off back to their crochet or whatever it was that kept them off the streets, by which time the passion we all know and love will have returned.

Amen.

This is the word of the lord.

Thanks be to God

[SpaceCruiser]

But the two hockey teams seemed to me to show lots of quality and then just freeze in the crucial games. Ladies made up for it to get Bronze well admittedly.

The mens team were good, yes, but the Germans, the Dutch and the Australians have dominated the Mens Hockey for the past decade or so. Getting to the semis was an achievement in itself. A bit like the English football team having low expectations for the recent Euros.

[who are ya?]

Question that should be asked, now the public are viewing the athletes in a new light, will they now follow their careers and watch all the other championships they compete at

These athletes will be completely forgotten about to go back to watching those horrible footballers week in, week out

[Stuboo]

So will this make supporters less tolerant of petulant overpaid players and, if so, will it be temporary or permanent?

Yes it will. It may well be permanent. But I agree with the rest of you, it's not easy to fix the behaviour of the players because it's mostly down to the money they get and the worship from thousands of adoring fans leading them to grow inflated egos and thinking they can do what they want. Plus there is little consequence to their bad behaviour.

What we can do is increase the punishment for badly behaved, disrespectful, cynical footballers, and make sure we enforce the rules. They largely get away with their bad behaviour and until we stop that they won't change. We need stronger referees who are strongly backed by the FA, more retrospective punishment, etc.

The FAs respect campaign was largely ridiculed in the press, but I think they may have had the right idea.

[creative_username_1]

It's the continual barracking of the officials over every decision (yes ,you were offside now get on with the game you pcunt). They
could sort that out pretty quickly by booking players. Divers could be punished retrospectively. I wish they'd just regain control of
the game to some degree. If it takes a couple of games of 8 v 8 then so be it

Whats the rule about possession of the ball when a team has just scored. In the charity shield Bertrand and the keeper where
both booked for behaving like children squabbling over the ball. This rule should be made a little clearer i.e. one team is
allowed to touch the ball the other is not and will be booked if they do so.

The Respect campaign was a waste of time

[Hoop Blah]

So is football the only sport where they try to exploit the laws and 'cheat' to gain an advantage?

How many ex-drug cheats competed in the track and field? How many women footballers have had to have their sex checked?

How many people have heard about old sprinter Richard Kilty (who just missed out on Team GB and appealed the decision) getting arrested for a violent attack with a baseball bat? If that had been Adam Johnson and Daniel Sturridge (who just missed out on the England squad for the Euro's) the news would be full of it.