Right, as much as it pains me to do this, I don’t think I can start up a sports blog this week and not at least say something about the biggest ‘sporting’ story of the moment.
No it’s not the enthralling Carling Cup final that saw Wayne Rooney mastermind another trophy win for Sir Alex and Manchester United, it’s not the horror injury suffered by the highly talented young Arsenal star Aaron Ramsey, it’s not even the latest in a long line of bizarre haircuts sported by David James (Seriously, he’s gone too far this time hasn’t he!?). I am of course talking about ‘Bridgegate’.
The latest development was in Saturday’s emotionally charged game at Stamford Bridge between Team Terry and Team Bridge (Chelsea v Manchester City for any of you living in a cave….in which case you’re showing great dedication to my blog!) The ‘big’ story here was Wayne Bridge refusing to shake the hand of his tormentor John Terry in the pre match pleasantries. Stop. The. Presses.
Let’s briefly recap. It has emerged of late that John Terry engaged in an extra-marital affair with Vanessa Perroncel, the mother of Wayne Bridge’s son. At the time of the affair, Bridge and Perroncel were very much in love and Terry was Bridge’s captain and best friend at Chelsea. Naughty, naughty.
In the wake of the allegations hitting the presses, John Terry has lost his England captaincy, as well as his friendship with Wayne Bridge and the respect of many of his peers and fans. On top of this, the situation has convinced Wayne Bridge to step down from the England national squad despite Senor Capello practically force feeding him a plane ticket to South Africa for this summer’s World Cup.
After going through all that, would you shake John Terry’s hand? I can think of a few things I’d have done to the bloke, shaking his hand wouldn’t be top of the list. Unless maybe he was using it to cling onto the window sill.
Anyway, the point of my tale is that its not really big news is it? He was never going to shake his hand, we all knew it would happen so why did it merit massive coverage and a million replays?
It saddens me that the media have turned us into voyeurs of these professional sportsmen. It’s time to go back to appreciating what happens on the pitch with goalposts and balls, not bedposts and, well, balls.
This is a huge year for English football with the World Cup coming up, one in which we have a genuine chance of glory. Let’s forget about John Terry’s little indiscretions and concentrate on football. He’s not exactly the only bloke doing it is he? I mean Tiger Woods cheated on his wife with countless women and no one’s banging on about that...
Yeah I'd agree with you Andy. The coverage of the match was predominately focused on the pre-match incident, as opposed to the fact this was Chelsea's first loss at home in 15months (or something like that).
ReplyDeleteThe aftermath of the match too just adds further diversion from the pitch, Bellamy's "everyone know's what JT is like off the pitch", followed by John Terry's "people in glass houses shouldn't throw stones" reply... I mean, really... Banter Banter. But... This isn't football new's, it's just celebrity gossip.
I think it's difficult to forgive footballers for wanting their privacy when they do something wrong, yet when they bag their wags, and then go on to marry them, they will happily flaunt them/sell the photos to the highest bidding magazine.
ReplyDeleteJohn Terry is not an unknown footballer, and was definitely within the "celebrity" sector of the sport, even before his manhood went a-wondering.
Therefore, how can we be surprised that that will they/won't they handshake brought in such huge audiences? When you open your windows to the public, you can't be annoyed when your dirty laundry is hung out to dry in front of them aswell.
PS. Really enjoyed this post Gray!