Those that know me know I’m very passionate about my football. I’m an Arsenal fan and despite living in Mallorca I’ll always try to catch a game when I can. I’m a Real Mallorca season ticket holder and I have two boys that play football for CD San Francisco in Palma. I’ve said before that when I’m saying anything on the sidelines watching the boys I mostly do it English as not many people can understand me. I have to be honest and say that I’ve said things at times I probably shouldn’t but as the boys have got older I’ve definitely mellowed. Parents here and back in the UK are told to behave themselves whilst watching games but at times that doesn’t happen.
Interestingly I’ve noticed something creeping into the professional game and particularly in the Premier League in the last year. Parents of professional players have come out and defended their own sons in the media. Now these are two high profile players, who are also England Internationals. I am talking about Harry Maguire and Aaron Ramsdale. The circumstances are different though for these two. Harry’s was in relation to how he was playing and Aaron’s was the fact that he had been replaced by another player.
Harry’s Mother said, “As a mum seeing the level of negative and abusive comments which my son is receiving from some fans, pundits and the media is disgraceful and totally unacceptable to any walk of life, never mind someone who works his socks off for club and country.”
Aaron’s Father said, “Aaron’s lost that smile to when he was holding onto that ball at this moment in time. It really is difficult to see him there and we all keep saying you need to keep smiling.
“Aaron is going to be the cup goalkeeper, and David Raya is going to be the main man unless something happens, an injury or a sending-off. Aaron’s got to live with that and he is living with that even though he’s not been told it. By anybody.
“Even though the way it’s been done, in my eyes, it’s been wrong and we can talk about that but it’s the decision. Really and truly we’ve got to get behind David Raya. He’s part of the family now. Whether it’s only until May-June of next year. It won’t be, it’ll be longer in my eyes, but that’s by the by.”
Now I’m split on whether this is right or wrong. We live in a society where everyone rightly has an opinion, the problem is now there are a lot more ways to express that opinion. Back when I grew up you read about these things in the newspapers. But the saying used to be, ‘todays headline tomorrow’s chip paper’. Meaning it was forgotten about normally the following day. TV didn’t have its own dedicated football channels like they do now, newspapers had to be bought but now you can read them online and probably the worst of all where abuse is concerned is social media. The abuse of players is not a new thing. If you’ve watched the very good David Beckham documentary you would have seen the awful abuse that he got after getting sent-off for England in the 1998 World Cup. But almost all of it was in the newspapers. Interestingly Harry Maguire has commented that Beckham reached out to him after the abuse he got.
Being an Arsenal fan I was more interested in the Aaron Ramsdale story. I have a Son who is a goalkeeper and he idolises him. I personally think that Ramsdale has been unlucky in what has happened. Most of the big teams around Europe you will find two quality players for every position, but it’s unusual to have two top class goalkeepers. When we went to watch Arsenal in Seville we made sure that we were in the ground to watch the goalkeepers warm up. David Raya the new keeper spent most of his time practicing his kicking which is what Arteta the Arsenal manager has brought him in for. I made a point of looking at what Ramsdale was doing and he practiced as hard as he would have if he was playing.
I asked my Son how he would feel that if he was a professional footballer and I said something to the media to defend him. He said he probably wouldn’t be too happy and then thought about it for a moment and said maybe they asked their parents to do it. He may not be wrong you know as neither have actually commented about it themselves and maybe this was a way of airing their frustrations.
Some might say that the industry they’re in, the money they get paid, they should expect it, they’re grown men and should stick up for themselves.
Others will point to their mental health and the effect it also has on their families. I will sit on the fence for this one and let you debate it amongst yourselves.
Take care everybody and enjoy your weekend!
Richie is the MD at Pirates, the islands number one night out featuring Adventure, Reloaded and Gringos.
Follow him on Twitter @DadTaxi1 & Instagram @dad.taxi or feel free to email him at rprior@globobalear.com
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