Footballers have a duty to educate…
England manager Gareth Southgate has today insisted his players have a duty to ‘raise awareness and educate’ both on and off the field, amid the ongoing row over footballers taking the knee.
In an open letter penned to Three Lions fans ahead of Euro 2020, the England boss said he has ‘never believed’ sports stars ‘should just stick to football’ and insisted his team ‘are role models’.
These overpaid, overrated ponces are paid to kick a ball about. That’s it, nothing more and I’ll be damned if I allow some thick twat to “educate” me on the latest propaganda.
Writing after a section of England fans booed stars for taking the knee in Sunday’s friendly against Romania, he said it was a ‘duty’ for stars to ‘interact with the public on matters such as equality and racial injustice’.
And he urged that supporters ‘must recognise the impact’ England stars ‘can have on society’.
They kick a ball about, for which they are paid a handsome salary. For that, they can just shut up and kick the ball, not lecture us on whatever the wokeism of the day is. They do not have a duty to do so and we do not need these imbeciles lecturing us on anything, thank you very much and politcs has no place in sport. The only impact they should be having is the toe of their boots on the ball and nothing else.
‘Footballers’ and ‘educate’ are two words that aren’t usually found in the same sentence unless the word ‘don’t’ is inserted between them. Especially in the context of BLM.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/57411472 This is what you are dealing with
Rio Ferdinand can go do one, frankly. No one asked for his opinion and no one wants to listen to it.
Aaargh! I am so sick and fucking tired of footballers and other sportsmen ‘taking the knee’. It is pure virtue signalling. Nothing more, nothing less. It is to show how virtuous you are and how much you care. And if you don’t ‘take the knee’ or oppose the ‘taking of the knee’ then you are clearly an evil racist.
I think the idiotic left want to perpetuate the idea that society is inherently racist. How else can they grant indefinite victimhood to ethnic minority people?
By the way, Mr Longrider, I think you should do a post about the latest idiocy of ‘woke’ students. You’ve probably read about it. Students at an Oxford college voted to remove a photo of the Queen from their common room because it ‘triggered’ them by reminding them of colonialism.
Yeah, I saw that. It’s a bloody Yank at the bottom of it, as well.
Indeed: it’s therefore quite apt that the rhyming slang for “Yanks” is “Septics”.
I think the fans are trying to educate the players that taking the knee as they call it is just being subservient to a bunch of politically motivated thugs, hence BOOOING them!
So sick of various random people deciding not only that I need role models but also that footballers, slebs and NHS staff are right for the job. Extremely patronising.
I’ve just had another call asking me if I’d like my second covid jab at the weekend. The froideur was immediate when I said I was thinking of not having it at all. The sad thing is that some people will feel utterly bullied by all the little authoritarians telling them what to think, what to do and how to behave.
My response is always to dig my heels in. I will not be bullied and I will not be coerced.
A piece of advice for anyone who’s been sent invitations for a jab by letter or text message, and has ignored them. Block the phone number 0300 561 0240. That’s the NHS Immunisation Management Service, who make follow-up calls to people who have been invited for a jab and not made an appointment for one.
Oh, I blocked them ages ago.
I still haven’t stopped laughing at the idea of me being educated by a footballer.
I know. Hilarious. Southgate is as dense as his squad. They have nothing to teach me about anything.
If only I was good enough to play football for England I would be stood there during the taking of the knee with a T-shirt bearing the slogan ‘I stand with Israel’ on display for no reason other than to see whether I could get Gary Lineker’s jug-eared head to explode.
Now that would be a sight worth paying for. Sanctimonious tosspot.
Pedantic accountancy point – top-flight footballers are not paid a ‘handsome salary’, they are usually only paid a moderate salary, to which is added vast payments for ‘image rights’ and similarly nebulous factors which are claimed to be generated overseas and, therefore, can be claimed to be exempt from UK Income Taxes, NI etc.
If, for example, the increasingly sainted Marcus Rashford paid full UK taxes on all his revenues, there would be so much more for HM Treasury to spend on feeding the multitude of kids from irresponsibly absent fathers, a topic on which he apparently has some personal expertise.
I think that non-whites are over-represented in top-flight British football. We should reduce the numbers….
Well, inevitably they are role models; young lads look up to them admire their skillins, their earning power and their pulling power.
How sad it is therefore that dickheads like Southgate and the administraotrs of the game want to use this to push this craven virtue signalling bollocks.
Even sadder that the players don’t simply refuse to do it. THey’d have every fan in England on their side.
The greats of yesteryear would I think have handled this better.
Not the 1938 squad presumably…
“The greats of yesteryear would I think have handled this better.”
This made me think of a scene from the radio comedy ‘Old Harry’s Game’ which is set in Hell. New arrival Thomas is making his excuses to Satan who is attended by a demon called Garry. From memory.
Thomas:
Well obviously I haven’t lead a completely blameless life but then who has?
Garry:
Bobby Charlton?
Satan:
Yes, thank you Garry.
Footballers job is to score goals, nothing else