Rio the yob has plunged football into the gutter
Last updated 11:44, Wednesday, 30 April 2008
ONLY 24 hours after a top-level meeting at the Football Association's headquarters to look at ways to improve the football’s tarnished image, the English game once again plumbed new depths.
A 30-man post-match melee marked a chaotic end to Saturday’s game between Manchester United and Chelsea.
The disgraceful scenes happened just a day after a summit was held at Soho Square on Friday aimed at fostering a greater degree of discipline and respect in the game.
The comic timing would be laughable if it wasn’t for the fact that one of the chief culprits was none other than England’s captain-in-waiting, who lost control on the pitch, booted the tunnel wall and managed to hurt a female steward in the process.
Rio Ferdinand’s natural aggression and skill have earned him a place alongside the world’s best defenders.
Yet in a moment of madness, he proved he has no grasp of what it means to be a future captain of his country.
Jostling with opponents and belligerently kicking walls in the heat of temper are the actions of a terrace yob or a street-fighter, not a man who is about to have the greatest honour in English football bestowed upon him.
He shouldn’t need to be reminded that along with the honour and responsibility of wearing the armband goes the duty of conducting himself in a restrained and respectable manner.
Fans are fed up to the back teeth of misbehaving millionaire footballers, who are constantly spoiling for a fight, and we should make no apologies for expecting the man tipped as the next England captain to display some self control.
Witnessing the likes of Ferdinand behaving in such a petulant, snarling and aggressive manner has become so yawningly predictable that it’s now just tedious.
Right now, it’s impossible to see why Sir Alex Ferguson has been hailing him as a natural leader or why Fabio Capello asked him to wear the armband in last month's friendly against France in Paris and regards him as a potential captain.
His suitability as England captain has already been called into question when he neglected to turn up for a routine drug test at his club's training ground.
It was an act of someone who has no sense of responsibility, and he was rightly left out of the England squad for a crucial European Championship qualifying match against Turkey.
Losing his cool so spectacularly as he did on Saturday enhances the view that Ferdinand and his Manchester United players are not handling the pressure of the Premiership title race particularly well.
If he can’t conduct himself in a disciplined and dignified manner then how can he instil those kind of qualities into the team-mates he will lead into important games? It makes you wonder how he would cope captaining a side in an intimidating international arena against the likes of Croatia or Turkey with a hostile atmosphere.
Capello witnessed Saturday’s disgraceful scenes with his own eyes. Let’s hope he doesn’t turn a blind eye to Ferdinand’s role in the fracas when he decides on the next England captain.
