I’m a big football fan, in fact football is in my blood being brought up around it and attending Luton Town games from a very young age. However times have changed since then.
Its a much faster game, rules have changed and more than ever footballers are put on a pedestal on a daily basis pretty much.
However with so many kids looking up to today’s footballing stars, are they really a good role model?
Every time you read the papers or magazine’s you are sure to come across a story about one of them. Whether they are falling out of a nightclub with some model, arrested for violence or an on pitch issue you just can’t get away from it.
Tonight was a perfect example. A youngster who was a ball boy for the evening decided rather than give the ball back he would lie on it, earning himself a kick for his troubles. Now I’m certain Eden Hazard probably didn’t kick the boy on purpose but more at frustration at trying to get the ball back to get on with the game but surely it’s not something that can be accepted? If a player was on the ball rolling around would he have found it acceptable to kick out the player? Now instead millions of youngsters have seen their role model lash out when he didn’t get his own way. And a football match that should have been about the game is about another irrelevant incident.
We try and teach our children to play fairly, not bully others and most certainly not be racist however footballers have been known to dive, kick out and have been found guilty by the FA on several occasions of being racists… Not really good role models especially on their five sometimes 6 figure salary these players earn. Maybe it’s time they concentrate on their football more that their social presence and lucrative advertising deals.