Be it Football, Rugby, Cricket, Tennis or Athletics, it seems that we always big-up the National Teams in the big events.
The ‘fervour’ built-up by the media, the marketing hype bods, the expectation of the population – does it create an unreasonable pressure ‘to perform’ in front of the camera?
Contrast this by some ‘minor’ sports where Team England get very little ‘media’ coverage and we have world-champions (e.g. Real Tennis, Stock Car Racing etc). Never in the ‘limelight’ but always deliver the goods time after time.
Or…
Do we have a ‘right’ to EXPECT Team England to do its Duty and win everything?
Some may take the view-point that the vast amounts of money put into these teams by both Sport England, big business and the ‘fans’ gives us the right to expect that at every event we are at the least ‘Finalists’….
Let the debate begin.....
They big themselves up. They were the ones that said they had every chance to win. They are paid considerable amounts of money, and as professional athletes, coping with the noise and pressure is all part of parcel of it.
Whats lacking at the moment is passion and pride.
England team ought to comprise of players from any other division than the first or premier. That way the effort and passion as Dean rightly put it would maybe be there. There is no inventives for those at the top such as your Roony's and Gerards they have nothing materially to gain any more or nothing left to prove. If they lose what happens? They go back to their super inflated wages at their super inflated clubs. At least if players from other divisions were in S Africa right now they would be showcasing themselves so as be taken on by the so called "Super clubs"
I know this is bollox but its how it comes across to me
That's an interesting point Lost.
My dad often harks back to the days when players often had other jobs to supplement their players' salaries and I think there is an awful lot to be said for people playing for the shirt and not for their own personal fame/wealth/whatever.
England football team should be able to count themselves among the best in the world. Not because of the country name and not because we invented the game. But because -
In this country we have all the facilities a budding football star could wish. Any toddler who wants to kick a ball around can. Football is played in every junior school and in the vast majority of secondary schools.
Sunday leagues exist in just about every district.
Even kids having a kick around can expect pretty flat grassed fields and in many cases this is maintained for the purpose. They may also find proper sized goalposts available for them.
Footballs can be purchased in any supermarket at a small cost.
We have a well developed (if unevenly funded) local, lower, middle and premier league structure.
Our national team has no excuse for being less good (or only as good as) teams from countries where kids lack the facilities and structures we have here.
of course we do.
but the media is partly to blame here.
Massive advertising contracts to players which are not that special.
everything these days is brilliant or overrated because of the exposure from tv.
If you look back in the 50s,60s and 70s football was a tougher game played with heart,determination and a much heavier football.
The shirts and boots were not hitech and when a player curled a football it was a genuine skill not something the ball did due to its design.
Look back at the brazil 1970 of them were quality players all with pace,skill and the will to then it wasn't all about money and how good you look on the latest cover of vogue.
Players used to tackle hard but now a little touch and its a free kick with players swearing at the ref because they think they are bigger than the game.
The problem with England is the foreign player are too many of them in the premier league and because of this they make the english players look good so the fans naturally think england will win each time they turn up.
fans have to be more honest with themselves and realize that england are no better than scotland or rep of ireland and that is a fact.
The only way england and the other home nations will improve is when the hunger is back in the players and they only get paid when they win at club and country level.
Contracts exclude any sponsorship or endorsements and the premier league introduces a limit of 35% on foreign players let into the league.
Then home nation players would break more into the top teams and at youth level develop into better players.
But right now people just have to except the home nations are just not good enough with players who think they are bigger than the country/clubs they play for.
