Comments on: For the good of the sport: Football, charity and PR http://www.markborkowski.co.uk/for-the-good-of-the-sport-football-charity-and-pr/ A varied study of improperganda Sun, 04 Sep 2011 06:47:18 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.1 hourly 1 By: Dan Woods http://www.markborkowski.co.uk/for-the-good-of-the-sport-football-charity-and-pr/comment-page-1/#comment-10988 Dan Woods Mon, 08 Feb 2010 19:10:49 +0000 http://www.markborkowski.com/?p=8714#comment-10988 I'm not sure that an awards ceremony will be sufficient to entice all footballers into good works. One of the major problems may be that, unlike NFL football, FA footballers can start playing in a professional club environment from an early age. The NFL minimum age requirement pushes players into college ball, allowing young talented men to exercise (or exorcise) their youthful misdemeanours outside of the wider public domain. Meanwhile, much to Alan Hansen's chagrin, you can win with kids under FA rules. Exposing young men to money and celebrity and depriving them of a social 'coed' mix in their teenage years might well undermine their future social skills. But what's more, the article seems to ignore the fact that there is a strong sense of philanthrophy in football circles. How many of these efforts are PR stunts, token gestures by clubs, or just general jumping on the bandwagon is anyone's guess, but there is no doubt that some footballers do champion good causes. Some cynics might say that they are just used as figureheads by shrewd campaigners, but whether American or British, it's invariably hard to judge how much sportsmen and women really are the main 'passion and drive' of their respective organisations. Perhaps the best example of both the points above is the enigma that is Craig Bellamy. Famed for being an irritable, uncontrollable 'lout' from an early age, he is the archetypal misbehaving footballer (albeit not of the salacious calibre of John Terry). On the flipside, he has committed £650,000 to his own Foundation to build and maintain a football academy and football league in formerly war-torn Sierra Leone. Not quite a contradiction in terms, but as surprising as it is creditworthy. So it appears that while the playboy lifestyles and on-pitch histrionics of today's footballers are evident problems, our rich sportsmen clearly can't be dismissed as unredeemable narcissists. Might one even go as far as to say that Bristish media and society are more concerned with sporting errants than sporting do-gooders?... <a href="http://www.unitedthroughsport.org/" rel="nofollow">United Through Sport - Sports Charity and Volunteering Overseas</a> I’m not sure that an awards ceremony will be sufficient to entice all footballers into good works. One of the major problems may be that, unlike NFL football, FA footballers can start playing in a professional club environment from an early age. The NFL minimum age requirement pushes players into college ball, allowing young talented men to exercise (or exorcise) their youthful misdemeanours outside of the wider public domain. Meanwhile, much to Alan Hansen’s chagrin, you can win with kids under FA rules. Exposing young men to money and celebrity and depriving them of a social ‘coed’ mix in their teenage years might well undermine their future social skills.

But what’s more, the article seems to ignore the fact that there is a strong sense of philanthrophy in football circles. How many of these efforts are PR stunts, token gestures by clubs, or just general jumping on the bandwagon is anyone’s guess, but there is no doubt that some footballers do champion good causes.

Some cynics might say that they are just used as figureheads by shrewd campaigners, but whether American or British, it’s invariably hard to judge how much sportsmen and women really are the main ‘passion and drive’ of their respective organisations.

Perhaps the best example of both the points above is the enigma that is Craig Bellamy. Famed for being an irritable, uncontrollable ‘lout’ from an early age, he is the archetypal misbehaving footballer (albeit not of the salacious calibre of John Terry). On the flipside, he has committed £650,000 to his own Foundation to build and maintain a football academy and football league in formerly war-torn Sierra Leone. Not quite a contradiction in terms, but as surprising as it is creditworthy.

So it appears that while the playboy lifestyles and on-pitch histrionics of today’s footballers are evident problems, our rich sportsmen clearly can’t be dismissed as unredeemable narcissists. Might one even go as far as to say that Bristish media and society are more concerned with sporting errants than sporting do-gooders?…

United Through Sport – Sports Charity and Volunteering Overseas

]]> By: Sue Hunter http://www.markborkowski.co.uk/for-the-good-of-the-sport-football-charity-and-pr/comment-page-1/#comment-10987 Sue Hunter Mon, 08 Feb 2010 17:26:27 +0000 http://www.markborkowski.com/?p=8714#comment-10987 What words of wisdom! I totally agree with what you say so why does the FA do the same? When people have good ideas you should learn from them. This solution to FA problems is so obvious I can't believe they hadn't thought of it before. Perhaps their PR agency is making too much money from them not going down this route. Love the new look website. twitter.com/ideasuk What words of wisdom! I totally agree with what you say so why does the FA do the same?

When people have good ideas you should learn from them. This solution to FA problems is so obvious I can’t believe they hadn’t thought of it before. Perhaps their PR agency is making too much money from them not going down this route.

Love the new look website.

twitter.com/ideasuk

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