Trial by media - who deserves it?

Is a professional Sportsman a professional Sportsman 24 hours a day, 7 days a week?

The recent passing of Former West Coast Eagles Australian Rules Footballer Chris Mainwaring caused me to think a lot about how we as the general public react to the feats of Sports “stars”. Do professional Sportsmen (and women) deserve the star treatment that they get from us the Sports loving public? And in asking that question when they do something wrong/bad/silly/stupid do they deserve the shellacking that they receive in the media?

Here is what I think;

Over the last couple of years Footballers of various codes it would seem have gone out of their way to make headline news for all the wrong reasons. Whether it is Rugby League players getting caught drunk driving, urinating in public, sex in the toilet of a hotel, getting in to a fight or a stabbing. A couple of Australian Rules Footballers that decided to go for a midnight run – rather then visiting a random breath test area, another footballer who decided to take a midseason trip to the USA for some help on some recreational activities that would get him in to all sorts of trouble if he admitted to them. Then we have a cricketer who should be sponsored by a mobile phone company for the entire headline grabbing action he has managed to attract. Rugby Union hasn’t been completely innocent with players getting in to scuffles amongst themselves (both on the field as well as off), another player that attempted to eat a taxi and a player testing positive to an illicit drug. Back at our beloved Emirates Western Force we haven’t gone unscathed with 2 players failing an in house sobriety test over the last 2 seasons.

All of the above “misdemeanors” have made headlines across Australia. Why? Have these crimes been so heinous as to cause outrage to the Australian Public? Have the people perpetrating these crimes such holier than thou saints that the Media’s reaction is one of astonishment? Have these crimes never been committed before in the history of Australia?

Professional Footballers in Australia (what ever the code) are aged between 17 and 35 and are highly paid for what they do; as such they train very hard and have a large amount of free time on their hands. Perhaps it is boredom and free time that gets them in to trouble. Perhaps it’s having access to so much money that sees them do things that make us, the sports loving public, cringe.

But why do the media hold our Professional Footballers in such high regards that they deserve a set of standards that is so much higher then the general publics? Who hasn’t attempted to drive home when they may have been over the limit? Who hasn’t urinated in public?

The first question I would like to ask the media is this: When (inserts sportsman’s name) committed his crime was he wearing his playing uniform? No. Then what difference does it make what his job is. If Jeff Smith of East Kickatinalong got caught urinating in public – it wouldn’t make the Kickatinalong Gazette let alone National Nine News. We need to stop putting our professional sportsmen and women up on a pedestal. We need to give them the respect that each one of us asks for ourselves. If Traveling_Gerry is at a nice restaurant having Dinner with Mrs Traveling they would do so with out being interrupted 4 or 5 times during their meal by fellow patrons for autographs. So why cant any member of the Western Force, or the Eagles, Dockers, Wildcats etc.

I believe that if your favorite player is out in public wearing his uniform he is working, part of his work is being with the fans – signing autographs posing for pictures. that is part of why they do what they do. If they are in normal “street” clothes, don’t they deserve to be treated just like you and I? If we treat our Sports “stars” with respect, and allow them a little privacy surely they would be happier people and perform better when we need them to.

Agree with you Ex :thumbsup:
How horrible to be under constant scrutiny...sure the perks are great but you also lose your privacy...the media in particular annoy me. The way i figure it is, how would you feel if you were in their situation. I guess you just have to learn to take the good with the bad!

great article ex, your right.

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Originally Posted by Exile

Who hasn’t attempted to drive home when they may have been over the limit? Who hasn’t urinated in public?

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:rofl:

Great article, Ex. Agree with most of it.

I think sportspeople (and other celebrities) who court publicity for their private lives (diet/clothes/weddings/babies etc) should probably take the rough with the smooth.
Those who don't, have a right for their privacy to be respected, especially if they have a problem and are trying to deal with it, for example going to rehab.

I do take issue, however, with the idea that anyone should be exempt from publicity if they break the law and endanger other peoples' lives, so if someone well-known is caught drunk driving, I reckon the publicity is inevitable and justified. It might make someone else think twice, and with the problems on WA roads in particular, that's got to be a good thing.

On a lighter note...

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Exile

Who hasn’t urinated in public?

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Nope... probably just a girl thing, though...!!! :D

i agree with this.
but what i dont agree with is players testing positive for banned subatances. and only being punished in their code of sport.
if they have taken a banned substance that is illegal. they should face criminal charges.

and we also have to remember that we only hear about the players who get caught or admit to their recreational activities.

I'm surprised you didn't write this article earlier Ex :)

I definitely agree that professional footballers should not be held to a higher standard on the grounds that they are football players. People try to argue that they are role models and therefore we have to judge them harshly for the benefit of our kids. But I have to ask, what are teaching our kids? What kind of lesson is that? How can you look at a football player as someone to mirror your actions on unless it is the way they play? I think that footy players should be role models for their skills and ability on the field only, and not for anything else, because their game is the only thing we know about them. How can you pass judgment on someone without knowing all the facts? Without knowing the real person, but only the image that is portrayed? We have a responsibility to teach our kids that the real role models in this world are not Ben Cousins or Brad Pitt or Britney Spears or whoever...they are the every day people around us who do extraordinary things every day but which we fail to notice or care because they're not paid $xbillion to do it. These are the people we should look up too and if we did, then there'd be no need to discriminate against our footballers and judge them so harshly in the first place...

imho that is... :)