In this Tuesday, Aug. 19, 2008 file photo England’s soccer coach Fabio Cappello, left announces the appointment of the team captain John Terry, right in London. A senior Football Association official said Friday Feb. 5. 2010 that John Terry has been stripped of the England captaincy by coach Fabio Capello following a media storm over his private life. (AP Photo/Alastair Grant, File)
A round of applause, please, for England coach Fabio Capello. It took Capello 12 minutes to sit John Terry down and justifiably strip the Chelsea centre-back of the captaincy of his country – a captaincy he should never have had in the first place.
Ignoring Terry’s affair for the moment, it’s important to remember that his pre-captaincy days saw him charged, later cleared, with assault and affray in connection with a nightclub incident, and drunkenly berating Americans in a Heathrow hotel with teammates in the immediate aftermath of September 11, for which they were fined two weeks of their wages.
Steve McLaren duly appointed Terry England captain in the months after the 2006 World Cup, but the indiscretions continued.
In November 2006, he was charged with improper conduct for comments about referee Graham Poll, for which he was reprimanded and fined £10,000. £10,000 was also the amount that Terry was alleged to have pocketed for secretly offering tours of Chelsea’s facilities to what were undercover journos.
There were other incidents involving alcohol and excessive gambling, but few caused as much justified contempt as his highly-publicised affair with the partner of teammate Wayne Bridge.
After much public debate, Terry was correctly ousted from the leadership role.
There were some who questioned the decision, asking why the actions in a player’s private life should determine their role within their working life, but sport mustn’t ignore morality.
It says a lot about modern football, sadly, that Terry’s replacement has his own list of indiscretions, and too often codes, clubs and countries have overlooked continual player indiscretions, let alone promoting such players into positions of responsibility and leadership.
There are examples of this scattered throughout the sporting world.
Last week, for example, Port Power announced its leadership group for the upcoming AFL season with Dean Brogan promoted into a vice-captain role.
This is the same Dean Brogan who punched a teenage Adelaide Crows fan in the face for baiting the Power ruckman in public, breaking his nose. The same Brogan who was involved in another assault and faced a maximum penalty of two years in jail.
It is the same Brogan who has been a regular at the AFL tribunal, most notably for his quarter-time hit on Andrew Lovett, and was described as a bully for his intimidating tactics on younger and smaller opponents.
Brogan’s appointment to the Power’s leadership group barely caused a whimper in AFL circles or in the South Australian press.
But what example is a club, with a growing reputation for its poor disciplinary record, setting for its young players by promoting a player with Brogan’s record into a leadership position – a position that involves helping to groom the clubs’ young players.
Codes and clubs who fear having one of their own in the tabloids for all the wrong reasons – and appearing to try and educate players about acceptable behaviour – are in fact appeasing, even rewarding, players who should be kept well away from such leadership responsibilities.
Towser
Guest
Lets hope no player goes the way of Gazza:- http://www.foxsports.com.au/story/0,8659,26702497-23215,00.html
Towser
Guest
These modern ":naughty boy" stories are nothing new. Just that in the past there was no politically correct scrutinisation of public figures by the media as there is today. In years gone by "Lads" behaviour was acceptable,lauded in fact, particularly by the British working class. It happened nobody cared. Today they do. By they I mean society as a whole, not certain self interested groups such as English football fans. Therefore by those present day, PC judged, moral standards Capello is right to strip the captaincy. I once went to a coaching course at Parklea run by an old Scottish professional some 35 years or so ago. At breaks in the course he reminisced about players he had known & their antics. The stories he told make John Terry a virtual choir boy. My team the Owls lost 3 players because of Bribes in the sixties,part of a nationwide set up. Who knows how much went on before the 20 pound maximum wage came into effect in the early sixties?
Art Sapphire
Guest
TT - If Terry was not a first choice defender and was caught doing this, he'd be out of the squad. The fact that he is indispensable for England's WC hopes makes him immune from being dropped from the squad. The English captaincy has always been seen as a elevated , pseudo-mythic, position in English sporting culture and the sum total of his behaviour forced Capello to act. The spineless FA couldn't do it themselves when it was discovered last week that - John Terry was offering to rent out his personal box at Wembley Stadium for £4,000 a game, Terry gets a subsidised rate on the 12-seater box as a perk of the England captaincy but rules forbid him from renting it to a third party. The Daily Mirror reported - that an associate of Terry’s management agents offered investigators use of the box for next month’s England v Egypt friendly. They also allegedly offered to throw in a free signed football shirt. Anthony White, 35, allegedly told investigators: “It’s John Terry’s box and you can have it. It will be £4,000 and we would want the money in cash.” When you treat captain's priveleges with such disdain, are you still worthy of leading your nation?
True Tah
Guest
Adrian can I correct in that Terry had the affair with the French girl after she had broken up with his team mate? I find it a bit hard to agree with the fact that Terry's private life should impact onto his ability to play and captain England. Most Poms I know have said that he should not have been stripped of the captaincy, and as to his indiscretions off the park, they believe that his sporting prowess is such that he can afford to indulge in anti-social behaviour. Maybe this is part of the reason why English society is in decay. I dont necessarily agree with that, but to hold John Terry as a role model is wrong. From his actions, its clear that John Terry doesnt have too much between the ears, and in all likelihood, if he didnt have futbol skills, he would probably be an unemployed bloke on a council estate. You cant expect him to change who he is just because he was given the captaincy.
Ben of Phnom Penh
Guest
In this case the private life involved another member of the team, hence leadership issues will arise within the playing group. What I find more interesting though is the Australia media attention on the English national side. Shouldn't we be more concerned about the Germans, Serbs and Ghanaians?
James
Guest
Problem is so many are tainted and have been corrupted by money and power. As you say, it's a worry when players with those sorts of track records assume a leadership role to guide young players at a club.
Macs.football
Roar Rookie
Carlos Puyo is and was captain of Barcelona.l
Lu
Guest
Captians are overrated.. look at United.. there is no real or even 'spiritual'(sic) captain over their last 3 dominant years. Patrice Evra lead the red devils out in the mauling of arsenal. Don't tell me Iker Casillas inspired the Spanish team to win the Euro championships from his goal post. And does anyone even know Bacralonas captain who 'lead' them to all that glory last season? Closer to home Tom Harley and sam mitchell weren't the real reason why their respective teams won the premiership were they? Leadership? sure. inspiration? why not. But really In this day and age, with all the talent and skill at top level sports, one would have thought that you don't need one player to get you over the line. Champion teams have players (plural) that just needed get on with the job.