The A-League Melbourne Derby was a pulsating affair, and actually, for the first time in my life, caused me to turn away from the cricket and on to the soccer.
But during the match I spied out the corner of my eye a green arm band nestled on the bicep of one Harry Kewell, previous winner of Australia’s most adored footballer, current wastelander.
Kewell was born in Smithfield, NSW. He has played for six different clubs in four countries throughout his career, including a stint at the rivals of the Heart, Melbourne Victory.
Furthermore, he hasn’t showered himself in glory this season, missing most of it through injury and arguably losing John Aloisi his first win of the season against Sydney FC.
So why is he captaining this side?
Is loyalty overrated in todays sporting landscape? Is it a pipe dream, a nostalgic, prehistoric remnant of a time when cricketers played for pride and a free feed, when rugby legends used to wake up to go to work in the morning then train after knock off, when footballers in Australia were as well paid as a 15 year old at Maccas?
Or is it still alive, an angry barnacle that refuses to budge despite all and sundry attacking it with golden crow bars?
Tottenham Hotspur just sacked their manager, Andre Villas-Boas, after about 18 months in the job.
In that time he managed to steer us towards our highest points total in Premier League history, and was given a completely new squad to work wonders with and guide towards Champions League football – the Holy Grail of competitions, which promises a guaranteed 40 million pounds of sweet, sweet revenue to participants.
AVB couldn’t deliver this pay cheque for his bosses, so he was let go.
Sticking with Tottenham, how about we try Gareth Bale on for size? The Premier League is the ultimate test a footballer can face, and at a club like Tottenham his legacy would be platinum plated if he managed to help us to a league title.
But instead he packed his bags and jetted off to join his co-pilot on the cash plane Luka Modric. Together they flew the coop to Real Madrid, a side so awash with coin they’d buy the Eiffel Tower if it could play football.
Football is a fantastic case study, and Mark Schwarzer provides a wonderful example.
A big fish in a big sea at Fulham, he was playing regular first team football, was Australia’s premier goalkeeper and a hero in the eyes of every local football fan.
Then he decided to move to Chelsea.
No doubt he tripled his bank balance in a few short weeks, but he did so watching from the stands, and the ultimate casualty was Australian football.
Without regular first team footy he couldn’t expect to stay at the top of his game, and promptly retired before the World Cup.
There are countless other examples.
Israel Folau would play badminton for the Ivory Coast if they paid him enough money.
Dave Warner was a superstar at the Sydney Thunder, then made a move over to the Sixers when they waved a wad in his face. Then the Thunder picked up a tidy sum of money from NSW Cricket to step their game up, and guess who turned up on their books again?
Blokes like Dirk Nannes are now just freelance cricketers, they spend their years trawling the globe for the latest T20 paycheck, from Zimbabwe to Bangladesh.
Premier League football teams are so jam-packed with overseas players it’s a struggle to get two local players on the same pitch together.
I hate to use my beloved Spurs again, but look at their Englishmen. Only Kyle Walker and Michael Dawson start, and if Younes Kaboul were fit Dawson would be relegated to the bench. One Englishman in a team of 11.
Players like Steven Gerrard are so rare you’d get food poisoning if you took a bite out of him. Loyalty? Never heard of it.
Of course I am well aware of the age-old argument – players have a limited life span in their sport.
As a landscaper slash roofer slash marketer slash whatever else I call myself, I can work comfortably until I am well in to my 70s. A quick perusal of the oldest players still active in major sports shows a player is lucky if he makes it past 40 in his chosen field.
Brad Hogg may be 82 when he finally calls it a day, but for everyone else they have limited utility as a sportsman. This means a short window in which to earn enough cash to tide them over during their retirement phase.
Chasing the dollar suddenly becomes more understandable. But it isn’t always necessary.
For someone like Dirk Nannes, who hasn’t earned a huge amount of money in his career, chasing franchises all over the world is understandable.
For Mark Schwarzer, who has surely earned enough money to fund the national economy of a few Pacific islands, a move to Chelsea makes less sense.
Australians pride themselves on loyalty. It’s why I’m writing this article, because the current crop’s attitude towards it is foreign to me.
We are brought up on a diet of State of Origin, state cricket and individual sports where humility is prized above all else. Is this now an outdated mindset?
Cricket was once the untainted darling of loyalty. You grew up in NSW, you played for NSW, and by extension you got at least 20 Test matches. If you grew up in Hobart you cursed your parents for birthing you there, but you never moved.
Now, with T20 taking the world on, players are chasing one thing. Money.
What do we care about? As a die hard sports fan, do you care about your team winning premierships? The manner in which they play? The way they conduct themselves on and off the field? Or the players and coaching staff?
Buddy Franklin signed for the Swans for nine million and you know what? It makes me sick. Sick as a dog. I was already beating my head over the Kurt Tippett acquisition.
We lost Jesse White, who, despite a late season charge, was always a bit part player. Yet I would rather have him lining up at full forward than Tippett, and I’d rather have Lewis Roberts-Thomson lining up as ruckman than Buddy.
Both blokes who were drafted by us, moulded by us, and turned in to damn fine footballers by us. Sydney boys.
It’s not that I don’t care about premierships, far from it. When we won in 2005 I cried. When we won in 2012 I cried again, and then attempted to open-mouth kiss a good friend who was there at the time, that’s how passionate I was (he was a bloke and the case is still before the courts. Sorry Andrew).
If Tottenham made the freaking Champions League I’d weep just as I did the day Peter Crouch scored against City at 4:30am Sydney time to sneak us in.
I want my team to do well, but doesn’t the sheen come off a victory that has been bought? Tottenham could sign Messi tomorrow and I’d probably be on board with it. But the way they have swept out the old and brought in the foreign irks me.
Do you care? Is loyalty gone from the modern game?
Steven McBain
Roar Guru
I think in the professional era you cannot expect loyalty, merely admire it when it happens. Even then a lot of that loyalty is born out of which club you play for and how much you get paid. Giggs, Scholes and Neville wouldn't have been one club players if they'd started out at Bolton Wanderers. There are of course fantastic shows of loyalty by players (admittedly backed up with wages) in instances such as Gabriel Batistuta staying at Fiorentina when they were relegated - he did eventually join Roma and won the league with them - and the likes of Buffon and Del Piero who stayed at Juve when they were demoted due the match fixing scandal. With regard to Bale, I quite respect him I have to say. Yes the Premiership is a great league and yes Real have lots of money but there is almost no place to play tougher than the Bernabeu ironically. The crowd has the very highest standards and you are following in the very biggest footsteps. There are certain clubs, Man United, Bayern, Barca etc where whilst you are surrounded by good players, it is still the toughest challenge to perform such are the expectations. Spurs built an entire new team - how they wished to spend the money was upto them - on the back of the 100M they got for Bale, I think he could leave with his head held high by the end. I think you're being grossly unfair with regard to Mark Schwarzer also, he wanted one last gig before retirement and who knows, if Cech had got an injury he'd be playing in the Champions League, think the bloke's played long enough to deserve a bit of slack. Finally, with regard to Gerrard, I don't think he was especially loyal, I think if you read the reports he bottled it. He'd agreed to join Chelsea only to be talked out of it and changed his mind last minute, it wasn't some kind of morale stance he took. Yes he's a local guy but until Suarez signed his new mega deal, Gerrard's probably been their best paid player for ten years, they were in the Champions League at the time and he didn't fancy making himself grossly unpopular in his home town. He's got it pretty easy up there, if they win he's a hero, if they lose he's a hero. Matt Le Tissier is also seen as being hugely loyal to Southampton and in many ways he was but he also enjoyed being the star of the show down there and he was too lazy to try and test himself at a higher level. This was the reason his England career never really took off which is a shame for a player who was as talented as Hoddle or Gascoigne. Players are loyal when they want to be but football is a business and playing is a job, that is paramount nowadays.
LewDub
Roar Rookie
Nice one. This is a massive topic. I've been watching loyalty and its waning importance in the eyes of fans and society in general. I'm still on the side of loyalty and as The Bear (above) coined it, I'm also a 'sports romantic'. Yes, there are exceptional circumstances where players can't be blamed for heading off. If like many A-League players the youngster is jetting off to a higher profile league, kudos to him. But even this move has a condition attached: what if the player's team is on the cusp of the semi-finals and he legs it without a thought for the fans, or the club that nurtured him. Not good. Loyalty can't be sold down the river with that line, "he's only got a ten year career, he's gotta take the money." What's the message for the kids, "money really does rule the world, so don't worry about anyone, or anything else." We could go on forever here, but I'm leaving coz I've got to get up early for work tomorrow.
ciudadmarron
Guest
The guy gets it! Not sure what's so funny though?
Mike
Roar Guru
Some of the best observations in life come from Seinfeld. :D
Ian Whitchurch
Guest
There is nothing as savagely disloyal as a club. The instant you get hurt, or your form drops, or your coach wants to go in another direction, you're out of a job.
Rugby stu
Roar Pro
"Loyalty to any one sports team is pretty hard to justify. Because the players are always changing, the team could move to another city…you’re actually rooting for the clothes, when you get right down to it. You’re standing and cheering and yelling for your clothes to beat the clothes from another city. Fans will be so in love with a player, but if he goes to another team, they’ll boo him. This is the same human being in a different shirt, they hate him now! Boo! Different shirt! Boo…" — Jerry Seinfeld
Wicked Ninja
Guest
And Schwarzer has to think about his family as well. Choosing Chelsea over other clubs would have allowed his kids to stay at the same school.
The Bear
Guest
Yeah. I'd imagine no Cottager would have been too surprised. He was faithful and gun keeper that earner them many points over the years. It's not like Fulham were in direct competition for Chelsea. If it were Manu keeper going to city, then that's probably a different story.
Cappuccino
Roar Guru
I think it's a bit unfair to attack Schwarzer. He was already probably going to be on the bench for Fulham considering the arrival of Stekelenburg. After all his service to Australian football, I think it was fair enough for Schwarzer to take a season to secure himself a financial future.
The Bear
Guest
I'm with you Ben. I'm a sporting romantic. And I am lucky I am with Brisbabe Roar because I believe they value this concept of "loyalty". When Matty left I was accepting but knew it was a very short term decision. One which he'd probably regret to some degree. However if he was to return to the HAL I knew he'd only go to Brisbane. He's our Del Piero, Steven Gerrard, Tim Cahill. That's important to me and a lot of other BR fans. It's not just about money to some and that makes a different economy within sport. It's about integrity and substance. Matty, for example, will always have a job cos he's got it in spades. Great article by the way. Especially going into a WC and Asian Cup cycle. I tip my hat ;)
Uncle Junior
Guest
Why should anyone want, or expect, loyalty in professional sport? I'd go as far to say, if my club is staying loyal to players, most likely the club is behaving unprofessionally and has no great ambitions. The reality of professional sport is players need to be churned - their form drops, or their value increases and the club would be irrational not to accept a bid for that player, or there are better value players in the market, etc. I don't expect loyalty from any employee in any business. All that should be expected from any employee is they give 100% commitment to their current job.
Mike
Roar Guru
I think there's only so much loyalty they can have for a club. Players need to be loyal to themselves and what it is they want out of their careers. The football world is highly competitive. If a player started his days in the Youth League and A-League, who moulded him and made him the household name he is today, but then the player moved to the EPL, I wouldn't consider it disloyal. The players want to be the best they can be, so moving upwards to a better club is always the dream. Sometimes it's not just about money, but rather about prestige, honour, glory, opportunity. The same can go for the club itself. How many clubs have terminated players and coaches who were loyal to them? In the case of John Aloisi, I'll never forget that penalty he scored against Uruguay. That is his legacy in my mind. But at the same time, the Melbourne Heart board can't simply look at his past achievements and give him all of the time he needs to shape the team properly. I know it can sometimes can across as disloyal or traiterous, but that is how the football world works. If I was a player, and had a better opportunity in front of me, I'd take it without question. If I stayed with my local club instead, the fans would love me... for a while, until I start missing penalties, and then my loyalty to them would almost have been for nothing. Loyalty to a club is subject to only the present season. Maybe football is a more unique discussion point regarding loyalty because there is so much opportunity on the horizon for players, such as European leagues, Champions leagues, World Cups, etc, whereas AFL players can really only change to a different Aussie club. Thanks for the article Ben. It's interesting to think about. But when it comes to football, there are so many players out there that you have to seize the opportunity when it is in front of you. Players come and go twice a year, which makes the sport very exciting and upbeat, and gives us something different each and every season. :)
mwm
Guest
very naive article. The day any sport becomes professional loyalty dies. Does anyone really care? What if a billionaire businessman bought Tottenham much in the same way with Man City and bought a whole load of players and won the league would you be offended? No you would be crying with delight! Remember these are workplaces, not clubs. They pay people to play for them and easily discard them if it doesn't work out. I follow Everton and I don't demand loyalty from the players - sure I'm disappointed if they leave for a rival- all I want for them is to play high caliber football worthy of their paycheck. I don't expect them to relate to me or my loyalty to the team. They grew up differently and their support lies elsewhere. So expect performance and professionalism , not schmaltzy rose tinted notions of loyalty and you will be ok.