I know I don't.
It's a nice idea that kids look to their parents as role models, but it isn't that simple. If you want to grow up to be a top striker, who do you pattern your football on: your overweight dad who hasn't kicked a ball since he was at school 20 years ago, or wayne rooney, who has made a success of it?
We don't have one single role model, we have a range of them covering various aspects of who we are and who we want to be.
When people go on about how his thuggish behaviour is how he expresses his passion and if you suppress that you suppress his talent, it sends the message to a kid (who might show all the civility of his parents off the pitch and in all other aspects of his life) that you need to get angry with the ref every time he makes a decision against you, that anger and foul language is part of what it takes to achieve what Rooney has.
I agree to a degree when people talk about footballers being role models when talking about their private lives I'd say you have a point, but when it comes to what they do on the pitch, it is important. Kids will try to emulate what they see on the pitch, and in this instance, and generally when talking about what players do on a pitch, the role model argument is entirely relevant.
...it's such a shame that England's best player by a mile is such a disgusting man. What an idiot.
martin samuel from the mail summed it up for me when he said that, to get to the top of the pro game, you have to go through a thousand odd games where it is brutally survival of the fittest. you are used to seeing best friends having their hearts broken and having to ignore that to the point of losing that friendship to get to your goal. aggression and pressure is heaped on you from an early age and, then, when you do make it, everyone wants you to be a saint.
Never ever saw the greatest footballer in the world (Pele) swear or abuse the referee,he did'nt need too and he had talent galore,Bobby Moore another one...the list is endless...just because you're a talented footballer you don't have to act like a moron and swear into everyones television.
I think i had enough intelligence to want to play like some footballers but not be like them. The same as i wish i had the textural brushstrokes of Van Gogh without cutting off my ear at any stage. I don't like Rooney and dislike his success, but him swearing sometimes doesn't paint the picture of the person i have little respect for. It's other elements of him and the fact he plays for Man Utd.
I don't think kids are as idiotic and susceptible as some people think.
And how's your professional football career going?
martin samuel from the mail summed it up for me when he said that, to get to the top of the pro game, you have to go through a thousand odd games where it is brutally survival of the fittest. you are used to seeing best friends having their hearts broken and having to ignore that to the point of losing that friendship to get to your goal. aggression and pressure is heaped on you from an early age and, then, when you do make it, everyone wants you to be a saint.