Half-Time Orange is a blogger I respect, but his latest column has found me questioning his sense of perspective. In a piece titled When Did the Socceroos Become so Soft?, he writes about the news that four Socceroos (Lucas Neil, Josh Kennedy, Jacob Burns and Mile Sterjovski) may miss key qualifiers in July because their wives are due to give birth:
“Is something wrong with this picture? Snap out of it, boys!
Back in the early 1990s, Robbie Slater, bless him, got his then wife, Nathalie, to induce early when the impending birth of one of his children threatened to clash with an important match for his French club, Lens.
That’s the Socceroos spirit. None of this whipped, Ted Danson, but-I-need-to-hold-the-rattle-guv crap. And I speak as a father who’s had a kid in post-natal care. Trust me: the kids will be grateful later on in life if their dads sacrificed.”
Let’s keep things in perspective. I love football dearly, but there are certain things which will always take priority. A best friend’s wedding, a death in the family, or a birth of a child - all these are more important to me than any football match.
But I’m not a professional footballer. We are talking about players who, to a varying extent, carry their nation’s World Cup dreams on their shoulders. You could argue they have a national responsibility that trumps their responsibility to their family, wife or children.
What do you think? Should Socceroos miss their babies’ birth for World Cup qualifiers?
Vote in the sidebar and leave your comments below.
5 responses so far ↓
1 jayfccccc // May 5, 2008 at 1:37 pm
Ha ha you read Half Time Orange.
2 Brenton // May 5, 2008 at 7:57 pm
Put yourself in there shoes, what would you do, obviously everyone will be different but at the end of the day no one, not the coach or other playes or the most dedicated of fans has the right to tell a player that he should miss the birth of a child(possibly a future socceroo) for the national team, this is something that only he and his family can decide.
Yes its the world cup, the biggest stage in world sport, but right now its not do or die people, if we can draw in china with literally NO strickers i think we will survive, and dont forget some of these guys have already commited large parts of their life to the national team, god knows how many other family events they have missed out on, i think every player that wears the national shirt gives 110% all the time.
And what about the fact that they shift there families half way around the globe in a bid to learn and grow as a player so at the end of the day they are better suited to represent their counrty, im sorry but i think its unfair and un-australian to ask that of a player…..but thats just one opionin im sure….
3 Astri // May 6, 2008 at 12:32 pm
Yeah family first….unless its the world cup final.
4 Sly // May 6, 2008 at 8:14 pm
Totally agree with you guys.
Imagine your employer said you couldn’t be there for the birth of your child for the sake of the “organisation” you’d tell where to go.
There are actually a few things in life more important than football.
5 Mick // May 7, 2008 at 5:24 pm
i’d rather hope they would play for Australia. The kid is not gonna hold it against Daddy.
The Mrs. might but she needs to understand who butters her bread so to speak. Surely they could arrange a Sydney birth and have the wags close to the players.
Leave a Comment