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To Redklopp's last 5 banter replies
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31 Mar 2018 01:04:58
First time poster.
So the main point you make seems to be that footballers do more than what we see for 90mins/ 180mins a week on the pitch and are worth more relatively to their business than other jobs are to theirs.
I can't argue with that at all. Where I felt the need to register and post however was the comments made in some of the followup responses and some little things in the main article which came across as warped or exaggerated for the sake of defending a point.
From the top, the idea that footballers deal with huge "intense pressure". Yup, to an extent they do. Nothing out of the ordinary though as plenty of other people do. Give me a choice between dealing with the pressure of knocking in a penalty in a cup final or dealing with the pressure of brain surgery knowing that the tiniest slip would ruin someone's life and it's an easy choice. Paramedics. Doctors. Nurses. Firemen. Police. Military. Air traffic control (really under appreciated job there) . The list of people who deal with life or death situations is far too long to write down so I'll stop there. I even remember Pearce, Waddle and Southgate getting paid a fair slice (pun intended) from a Pizza Hut advert making jest of their "intense pressure" penalty misses. Forgive me if I have very little sympathy for footballers' life of "intense pressure".
The "sacrifices" aren't any more or less than thousands of other athletes. Ask any top athlete why they sacrificed all they have and I guarantee 99% won't say it was to provide entertainment for others or even to provide for their families. They did it because they wanted to be the best and to do what they love. "Popping to the local children's hospital to fulfil your other obligations" It's part of their job and the club's PR work, at the expense of other task/ training exercise and they're paid very handsomely for it.
Still on sacrifices, let's look at being home just in time for dinner with the kids. Again, thousands of people daily have the same woes, many people work two jobs! It's part of life except most people who have that problem earn only just enough to keep the roof above their children and provide the food that ends up on the plate. So nevermind footballers' "Will I be back home by 7 or 8 for tea with the kids? " for many it's, "Will I have enough money to even keep on top of the bills this week? "
Tweeted death threats? Delete twitter. Police and politicians get it in the neck far more than footballers ever will. You don't have to be in the media spotlight to be a footballer. Many enjoy it and the benefits it brings. Doesn't make it right to receive death threats, but they're few and far between and mostly by drunk numpties who need hounding out the game anyway. You can't say it's one of the hard parts about being a player though.
"to have depression by 25, dodgy joints by 35 and Alzheimer's by 55" was a weird thing to mention considering 1/ 4 UK people are estimated to receive a mental health problem annually, physical health issues are common for everyone with age and alzheimers is still being researched. You also mentioned three players by name who died partly due to football. That seems like nothing more than hyperbole. People die for countless unrecognised or undiagnosed health issues every day. Only difference was that those three were well known. Astori could well have ended up working on a farm and died from the strains of heavy lifting every day. We'll never know! Can't just claim that football is a risky business to enter and we should sympathise with players because of it.
Last point I wanted to make was the perceived charity or giving back to the people, although I'm sure you'll agree with me on this one. I've mentioned the hospital visits already. Footballers are in a damn good position to give back. They should give back. They are absolutely nothing without their fans and footballing community behind them and it should be enforced that players/ clubs give a certain percentage of earnings to local communities, not just because they want to make a charity donation. The kids who worship the ground they walk on are the same kids who wear the same school uniform 5 days a week because their parents can't afford to buy a second one. They're the same families who can't afford bills for heating at times. The same families who sometimes can't afford critical health care or treatment. Credit to those who do help out, but when you're earning so much off the back of some of the most deprived and poorest of people in the country, there should be far much done voluntarily (and I would argue compulsory) by everyone in the football community to give back.
I'll stop there though because I could write all day about this stuff. Whilst your original point was straightforward and correct enough, it's almost like you tried to justify it in the most extreme ways and through daft comparisons. Yes, footballers are paid obscene amounts, we all know it! But it doesn't need justifying beyond a simple statement of, 'because there's so much money in the game'. The money involved makes me sick. It also sickens me when I see nurses saving lives but resorting to food banks to feed their kids. Our society needs looking at seriously. Footballers and clubs should morally and contractually be obliged to give back far more than they currently do. They don't deserve or need justification for their earnings, they deserve questioning for why they don't do more for others.