{"id":296233,"date":"2023-10-19T15:39:02","date_gmt":"2023-10-19T15:39:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportstons.com\/?p=296233"},"modified":"2023-10-19T15:39:02","modified_gmt":"2023-10-19T15:39:02","slug":"football-should-unequivocally-be-about-sport-and-nothing-else","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportstons.com\/soccer\/football-should-unequivocally-be-about-sport-and-nothing-else\/","title":{"rendered":"Football should unequivocally be about sport and nothing else!"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1>SIMON JORDAN: Please shut your mouths! Football should absolutely, unequivocally be about sport (and nothing else)&#8230; we&#8217;re in danger of virtue signalling over politics, war or society&#8217;s ills<\/h1>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Jordan Henderson received boos when playing for England against Australia\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>The simplest thing would be for footballers to just stop being such hypocrites\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Listen to the latest episode of Mail Sport&#8217;s podcast\u00a0&#8216;It&#8217;s All Kicking Off!&#8217;\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>For a man as seemingly intelligent as Gareth Southgate, he displayed something of a blind spot when it came to his selection of Jordan Henderson as England captain.<\/p>\n<p>Southgate expressed his surprise that England fans booed Henderson but surely he can\u2019t be that obtuse?<\/p>\n<p>Football fans can sometimes be deluded and have a sense of entitlement but you can fool some people some of the time but you can\u2019t fool all of the people all of the time. Fans know the world and they know that footballers are prone to having observations without any substance.<\/p>\n<p>The simplest thing would be for footballers to perform what is their raison d\u2019etre and get on with playing football and stop being such bloody hypocrites.<\/p>\n<p>Maybe if players kept their traps shut about every cause under the sun they wouldn\u2019t find themselves in situations such as the one which left Henderson in no doubt about how his move to Saudi Arabia is perceived.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/10\/18\/17\/76714897-0-Jordan_Henderson_had_been_subjected_to_boos_when_featuring_for_E-a-31_1697647257301.jpg\" height=\"442\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Jordan Henderson had been subjected to boos when featuring for England against Australia<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/10\/18\/17\/76714899-0-Gareth_Southgate_had_criticised_those_to_boo_the_midfielder_but_-a-32_1697647261349.jpg\" height=\"423\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Gareth Southgate had criticised those to boo the midfielder but claimed not to know why they had done so<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/10\/18\/17\/76714895-0-Mail_Sport_s_Simon_Jordan_argues_that_footballers_should_get_on_-a-30_1697647251534.jpg\" height=\"382\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Mail Sport&#8217;s Simon Jordan argues that footballers should get on with their playing duties and stop being hypocrites<\/p>\n<p>Your browser does not support iframes.<\/p>\n<p>When it suited him, Henderson liked to be held up as a major advocate and supporter for the LGBTQ+ community but the reaction of the Wembley crowd was simply the consequence of his actions.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>So when Southgate starts opining and complaining about why players are getting booed, maybe if they focused on the business of football and realised, with the greatest respect in the world, there aren\u2019t many people being influenced by footballers\u2019 opinions, they wouldn\u2019t face these accusations of hypocrisy. If there was real substance then there might be a modicum more respect.<\/p>\n<p>If you asked the average footballer about the plight and travails of a particular cause that they are supposedly advocating for, besides a few platitudes, most of them only have a surface level knowledge or interest. That is no crime but somehow they have been convinced that their utterings have real significance. That\u2019s not to suggest they are ignorant, just young, impressionable footballers. What they most definitely are not is campaigners or politicians.<\/p>\n<p>Footballers\u2019 images can often be leveraged for valuable causes but in this very complicated and very complex world, sport shouldn\u2019t feel obligated to be the antidote to all of that. Football is about escapism. It should be the place that people go for a couple of hours where they don\u2019t have to think about politics or war or society\u2019s ills. Football or sport has got no real business getting involved in these issues, particularly when it\u2019s really a veneer to show that sport has the answers or gravitas.<\/p>\n<p>Listen to FIFA\u2019s self-important Gianni Infantino calling for peace in the Middle East, as if he presides over some Vatican state-like significance and commands a Swiss guard. You are a football administrator Gianni for goodness sake, not some peace envoy! Is he advocating for a Christmas Day armistice football match on the Gaza strip? I suspect not \u2014 and I assume FIFA won\u2019t be making any significant financial donations to victims of the atrocities.<\/p>\n<p>Our FA found themselves attacked from all sides over their decision not to light the arch in Israel\u2019s colours. But again, that is the consequence of their own actions. If they hadn\u2019t spent so much time virtue-signalling in recent years for a variety of causes, they wouldn\u2019t have been so open to criticism. Unsurprisingly, the FA have announced they will review their guidelines on lighting up the arch.<\/p>\n<p>Despite often being uninformed, the FA have attached themselves to easy causes like Black Lives Matter \u2014 an organisation that now issues support to the Hamas terrorists \u2014 because it feels it needs to be part of a movement to promote messages.<\/p>\n<p>But football \u2014 and sport \u2014 has no business in this sphere. Sport wants to be at the front of the queue to impart wisdom but doesn\u2019t seem to understand it lacks the courage of its convictions to follow it through. Sport should simply be absolutely, unequivocally, undeniably about sport. We\u2019re in danger of becoming virtue signal, virtue signal, virtue signal and a side order of sport.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/10\/18\/17\/76714893-0-Southgate_must_take_some_of_the_blame_with_the_current_attitudes-a-33_1697647272929.jpg\" height=\"391\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Southgate must take some of the blame with the current attitudes towards the England star<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/10\/18\/17\/76714891-0-The_FA_came_in_for_criticism_after_not_lighting_up_the_Wembley_a-a-34_1697647277041.jpg\" height=\"416\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>The FA came in for criticism after not lighting up the Wembley arch in blue and white on Friday<\/p>\n<p>Maybe a little less noise and a little more football would be better for everyone. If I want to hear about political views I can tune in to news channels and find out but I want my footballers, sportsmen and women to be just that on the occasion I pay to see them. When I\u2019m going to see someone throw a javelin, jump over a bar, kick a football or hit a tennis ball, all I\u2019m really interested is that.<\/p>\n<p>With Henderson, Southgate must take some blame. He is the one who opened this door, he\u2019s the one that made the front-foot stance about how players should be allowed to express themselves leading up to World Cups while recently suffering a bout of amnesia when he complained that footballers are not politicians.<\/p>\n<p>Now Southgate will no doubt say that, in the absence of Harry Kane, Henderson is his captain because of the value he adds in the dressing room, the trust he has in him and the quality of his football. Okey dokey, so our leaders are built out of hypocritical double standards are they? What a shoddy state of affairs.<\/p>\n<p>Henderson plays in a sub-standard league in a country with the kind of culture he was so vocally and publicly opposed to. Until they came calling with bags of cash. So Southgate has to accept there is going to be some form of fan reaction to him being captain and if you don\u2019t like the reaction, don\u2019t put Henderson in that position.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Don\u2019t engender a culture where players think they can stand on a moral soapbox, telling people how things should be in a utopian world while being chauffeur-driven to games and taking private planes around the world without any skin in the game besides a few meaningless words.<\/p>\n<p>Let\u2019s not forget how much football valued and missed fans during Covid and yet now, when they voice their opinion, it is considered unwelcome.<\/p>\n<p>Henderson espoused the world of his views, was then employed by the very people his supposed principles objected to and was still rewarded with the captain\u2019s armband. And Southgate wonders why people boo? I know people in football live in a bubble but this is one the size of bloody Center Parcs.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/10\/18\/17\/76717131-12645939-image-a-36_1697647589028.jpg\" height=\"423\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>The Premier League sees players take the knee ahead of kick-off on a regular basis<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/10\/18\/17\/76716143-0-image-a-35_1697647296018.jpg\" height=\"423\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>FIFA president Gianni Infantino (right) has been calling for peace in the Middle East<\/p>\n<h2>Van Dijk talking nonsense on too many games\u00a0<\/h2>\n<p>Virgil van Dijk came out with some self-indulgent tosh this week.<\/p>\n<p>Liverpool\u2019s Dutch defender was moaning about players having to play too many games and argued they should have a say in a \u2018solution\u2019. They don\u2019t want a say in the solution, they want to tell everyone what they won\u2019t do.<\/p>\n<p>The problem for players like Van Dijk \u2014 and he is by no means alone in talking such nonsense \u2014 is that footballers have been the main beneficiaries of the revenues top clubs generate as a result of the number of games played. They are the ones who have lined their pockets thanks to the ridiculous inflation in salaries.<\/p>\n<p>When it was put to Van Dijk that fewer games would mean less money he was aghast because football economics are such that less means more in the entitled mind of some of its protagonists.<\/p>\n<p>The fact is that today\u2019s squads, certainly at the top, have never been bigger. Managers can now make five substitutions during a game from a seemingly endless line of replacements. Medical science and nutrition are better than they have ever been in football history. Tackling has pretty much been outlawed. The players have never had it so good.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/10\/18\/17\/76714981-0-Virgil_van_Dijk_has_struggled_to_replicate_his_best_form_for_Liv-a-15_1697646412627.jpg\" height=\"423\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Virgil van Dijk has struggled to replicate his best form for Liverpool since a long-term knee injury<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/10\/18\/17\/76716463-0-image-a-16_1697646468419.jpg\" height=\"423\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>The Dutch captain claimed that footballers are being forced to play in too many games\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>So if Van Dijk really feels things are that bad, ask to be rotated, get a transfer to Burnley and don\u2019t play as many games rather than biting the hand that feeds you.<\/p>\n<p>Why is it only the top players making this argument? They\u2019re the ones who only want to play for Champions League clubs and all the extra games that come with that.<\/p>\n<p>Modern players have wrongly been led to believe they have some sort authority over the game and this is where we end up.<\/p>\n<p>Sorry Virgil, but sit down, count your money \u2014 pinch yourself and perhaps pipe down. Oh, and get your form back!<\/p>\n<h3>IT&#8217;S ALL KICKING OFF!\u00a0<\/h3>\n<p><span><span>It&#8217;s All Kicking Off is an exciting new podcast from Mail Sport that promises a different take on Premier League football.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><span>It is available on MailOnline, Mail+, YouTube, Apple Music and Spotify.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Your browser does not support iframes.<\/p>\n<p>Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/sport\/football\/article-12645939\/SIMON-JORDAN-Football-sport-danger-virtue-signalling-politics-war.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read Full Article<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>SIMON JORDAN: Please shut your mouths! Football should absolutely, unequivocally be about sport (and nothing else)&#8230; we&#8217;re in danger of <span class=\"more-text\">&hellip;<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":296232,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Football should unequivocally be about sport and nothing else! - Sportstons<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sportstons.com\/soccer\/football-should-unequivocally-be-about-sport-and-nothing-else\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Football should unequivocally be about sport and nothing else! - Sportstons\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"SIMON JORDAN: Please shut your mouths! 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