Of course with any sport and competitive industry you are going to get a variety of emotions on display, anger, delight, joy, courage....you don't need me to list all the emotions under the sun, this is a blog not a school class. All types of emotions are welcome in any walk of life, otherwise we'd just be robots, right? In all corners of the game you see over reactionary comments, songs, actions, why is this acceptable? Would this happen in any other industry? Take your job for instance, you have a bad day at the office when you misplace an important file or you piss off a large client, some guys from another department want you sacked because 'you don't know what you're doing' despite the fact you've just had a bad day at the office, it happens, right? Of course it does! I work a Monday to Friday job and sure as hell I've had the odd stinker of a day where I probably should have stayed in bed as everything I touched turned to shit, luckily none of my colleagues chanted 'wanker, wanker, wanker' at me and the next day turned out to be much more productive.
The most famous source I can think of that provides a continuous stream of reactionary/emotive comments is that slime ball we all love to hate, Piers Morgan, or 'The Slug' as he will now be known for the remainder of this blog. Often commenting ludicrously, on his 'beloved' Arsenal and the goings on at the club, of course as a fan he is entitled to his view and his say on things, that is the beauty of the country we live in, however he does talk absolute bollocks, which in my view loses him any credibility as a football fan. I don't want to get into an argument with anyone about what a true fan is, you get varying levels of supporters and that is entirely peoples choices, the one thing that unites all fans is a love for the game, some just love it more than others. My issue with the slug is that he doesn't think before he tweets and lets his emotions totally control how he interacts. Perhaps I do him an injustice and maybe he is in fact a very very good wind up merchant, personally I don't view it that way and the guy epitomises everything that frustrates me with football today. Lately his moaning has entirely been to do with the Robin Van Persie sale which he has tweeted numerous loose insults about the Arsenal chief executive, Ivan Gazidis. The Slug has made it clear that he is unhappy with the sale of RVP, describing it as the single worst decision in Arsenal history. I'm serious, he said that. £24 million pound for a 29 year old prone to breaking down with injuries, ladies and gentleman I give you 'the worst decision in the history of Arsenal football club'. It's of course a huge over reaction, from a footballing sense it was perhaps a poor decision as RVP is a fantastic footballer with a brilliant eye for goals. From a business perspective it made perfect sense and the problem these days is that football is a multi-billion pound industry full of people in suits who probably aren't aware of the offside rule. Football is sadly no longer just a game.
The way football has evolved since the birth of the Premier League is alarming and while there has been some really excellent positive moves made, such as the forward strides to rid the game of racism and hooliganism, it is my humble opinion that the Premier League has been utterly terrible for football and been the biggest factor in the game forgetting it's modest roots.
Look at the clown and footballing body that have a huge say in world football, Sepp Blatter and FIFA, completely obsessed by £ signs and not giving an ounce of thought to the fan on the street. Top level football has become a money making business and that has without doubt had a huge effect on how people react to events on and off the pitch, instant success is demanded from everyone and if it doesn't happen then someone has to pay for the supposed failure by losing their job.
Even at the relatively modest level of League 2 football, clubs are starting to look at fans as cash cows as opposed to supporters. It no longer feels like you can just support your football club, you have to pay for your support and that can't be right, can it? When I first started watching football and going to games it was an absolute joy to behold, it was a release from every day life, an escape from reality. It no longer feels like that, in fact it almost feels the other way around but maybe that is partly due to the trials and tribulations of the club I follow, Northampton Town, over the last few years it has been really hard work as a Cobblers fan and shows no sign of letting up, however the club expect the fans to keep turning up as that's what we signed up for, right?
Reigning my random rambling back in for a moment and moving back to emotions in football and sport there was a prime example of reactionary comments recently from athlete Oscar Pistorius who was expected to win the gold medal during his 200 metre race at the Olympic Stadium in London. Pistorius was beaten to the gold medal by unfancied Brazilian athlete Alan Oliveira and immediately after the race Pistorius gave an interview live on television where he questioned the legality of the race and the legality of the blades the Brazilian athlete used. An hour or so after the race Pistorius retracted some of his comments (he still insists the laws need looking at though) and went on to finally congratulate the Brazilian on his victory and apologised for his initial outburst. This needs dissecting in more detail and is something I intend to do during my next update, however to touch on emotional interviews that sports stars probably regret, how about Kevin 'I'd love it' Keegan? That has to be up there and I am sure in hindsight he would have waited a while before undertaking that interview. Let me know if you can think of any other prime examples?
This is part one and part two will be completed over the next few days.
