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Sex, Drugs and Rock’n’Roll- Just 3 ways for an England Football Player to cause a scandal
What is it with England football players and their inability to stay away from controversy?
It is seemingly drawn to them in ways I can’t understand. The most recent fiasco, between the now former England captain John Terry and Manchester City left-back Wayne Bridge, has now almost reached the dizzy heights in terms of speculation and intrigue. This follows allegations of Terry having an affair with Bridge’s girlfriend at the time, Vanessa Perroncel.
Terry had initially won a gagging order stopping the public from finding out about these allegations, but this was lifted, and what followed was a barrage of speculation and drama that wouldn’t be out of place in a soap opera. Whether it was the remarkably intense focus on a typically insignificant pre-match handshake, or the alliance to either Team Terry or Team Bridge, an England player had once again managed to bring publicity of the bad variety upon themselves.
Unfortunately, this hasn’t been the only scandal to have hit the England team recently. Following revelations about his private life, Ashley Cole has also been under severe scrutiny in the media, as his divorce to X Factor judge and pop star Cheryl Cole continues to fill columns in the tabloids.
It doesn’t stop there, almost a year ago, the new vice-captain of the national team, Steven Gerrard was involved in allegations of an assault on a local businessman, Marcus McGee in a local bar in Southport, following a dispute over music, and even though Gerrard was later acquitted of this allegation, questions were raised about how Gerrard allowed himself to get into a situation like that.
In addition, let’s not forget about the newly instated England captain, Rio Ferdinand and his eight month ban after a missed drugs test, or maybe the allegations of Wayne Rooney fraternising with prostitutes. I could continue, but I think that is more than enough examples.
So is the issue of morality for the England team going to be overshadowing what is a crucial few months in the build-up to what will be seen as a good opportunity for a so-called ‘golden generation’ to win the World Cup in South Africa?
The England manager, Fabio Capello used the most recent scandal involving Terry and Bridge to stress to his team about their wider responsibilities, knowing that the nation’s children are happy to make them heroes for what they do on the football pitch. “The younger children look to these players as an example for life,” said Capello. “For that reason, you have to understand that everything that these players do in their personal lives is an example for the children.”
Capello even went on to suggest that the large amounts of money that these players earn maybe part of the reason, as if they don’t have to follow the moral standards that the majority of the public try to live by. “They are young players, young boys, who are rich boys. This is the problem”
The Italian’s decision to remove the captaincy from Terry after the allegations fits in with his disciplinarian style that has been deemed a success from people within and outside of the England squad. Yet it's almost as if the recent scandals have emerged to prove that even the hardest taskmaster can't keep this playing group under control and as a result, bring forward the increasingly typical English World Cup implosion before a ball has actually been kicked. Nevertheless, if all of this tabloid turmoil is England's low point this time around, at least the team has roughly 90 days to turn things around before the real action starts.