Why i dislike the daily mail this article was in it today:
It's what they would have wanted. Can there be a more appropriate way to recognise the suffering of those caught up in the Southern Pacific disaster than dropping to one knee after scoring a goal and paddling an imaginary canoe with an imaginary oar on an imaginary sea.
Well, yes. Almost anything, now that I think about it. Put yourself in the place of one of the poor souls sifting through the wreckage of a home blasted to smithereens by the earthquakes and tsunamis sweeping through Indonesia, Papua New Guinea and beyond.
Thousands are dead. The damage is beyond belief.
Suddenly, you hear a footballer has choreographed a routine in ‘tribute’ to your plight after kicking a ball into a goal. I say ‘hear’ because it would be impossible to see.
There’s no electricity and the telly has been washed away. There are no papers, either, as the newsagent’s shop was last seen floating towards Antarctica. But no matter
. Look, I’m sure Tim Cahill had what is usually described at this point as the ‘best of intentions’ when he performed his mime. We know his mother comes from Samoa and that he played for their Under 20 side.
But there is something undeniably crass about reducing the impact of an international catastrophe to an amateur dramatics cameo on a football field. It’s the vanity of it. The idea that this posturing has some wider meaning beyond simple showing off.
Cahill has plenty of opportunities to express his compassion sincerely. He spoke eloquently enough after the game and has announced plans to raise some financial aid, which is admirable.
In fact, I’ll chip in myself. With all that in mind, maybe he might have considered for a moment that a themed ‘goal celebration’ would not necessarily be the most sensitive way to recognise mass fatalities.
Participating in no goal celebration whatsoever would have made a more telling point. Although we’d like to, it’s hard not to recall he has a habit for oddly inappropriate moments like this.
Last year, he crossed his wrists in mock handcuffs in another ‘tribute’, this time to his brother, who punched and kicked a man in a taxi rank, leaving him partially blinded. The brother fled to Australia, only returning to receive his six-year jail sentence when an extradition order was served.
Pretend handcuffs didn’t really tell the full story. To be fair to Cahill he apologised for his idiocy then and I don’t seek to demonise him unduly now.
But his reaction to this week’s catastrophe is indicative of a depressing trend throughout sport and football in particular.
Let me ask you something: Q. How many footballers does it take to change a lightbulb? A. One.
They hold it up and the world revolves around them. Seriously, when did footballers assume their trite, post-goal celebrations were somehow globally significant statements?
And where does it end? If bush fires threaten Sydney’s suburbs at some point in the near future, is Cahill going to grab a lighter from the crowd and pretend to set his shirt on fire? These days, every Premier League goal is followed by more chest-pounding than a 24-hour Holby City TV marathon.
Look at Emmanuel Adebayor. No, I mean really look at him, or he’ll wither and die from the lack of exposure. He was fined £25,000 for running the length of the pitch and sliding on his knees in front of Arsenal fans. I had no great desire to see him banned for this attack of ego, but his unprofessional behaviour should surely have cost him more than just a day’s wages.
Expectations are now so abysmally low, Carlos Tevez is hailed as an international statesman and possible Nobel Peace Prize winner for resisting the urge to raise the middle finger when he scores against one of his former clubs. Football celebrations aren’t inherently bad.
Many of them add joy and bring a little fun to our lives. I can forgive someone for ripping off their shirt and running down the wing after scoring an extra-time winner in an explosion of delight.
But the high-kicking, hokeycokey, back-flipping, self-congratulatory line dances that follow every tap-in from five yards have become utterly tedious. It’s not as if they are spontaneous.
This is rehearsed idiocy. So, some pointers for our footballers: Don’t celebrate death. Don’t celebrate injury. It’s a start, at least.
DES KELLY: Celebrate the moment but don¿t push the boat out too far | Mail Online
obviously.
