Post by QPR Report on Mar 3, 2009 7:37:37 GMT
Telegraph/Henry Winter
Football League's initiative would be a force for good for pampered players
A British soldier who lost a leg treading on a mine in Basra could teach certain footballers a lot about the true cost of sacrifice, giving the self-absorbed pro a timely sense of perspective about the real world.
An opportunity now arises for members of the Armed Forces injured in Iraq and Afghanistan to meet their sporting icons, and for the players to encounter some genuine heroes. All parties will benefit.
At the invitation of Lord Mawhinney, the Football League chairman, patients from the Defence Medical Rehabilitation Centre at Headley Court will again be special guests at Wembley for the May play-offs.
They will do a lap of honour, some on crutches, others in wheelchairs, and fans will applaud them as they did amid emotional scenes last year.
Watching their teams in action and given VIP treatment will, of course, be a memorable event for the soldiers, pilots and naval personnel.
Fans will enjoy the chance to laud the selfless Services. But this year the Forces' involvement could go further. The League are mulling over a suggestion that those contesting the play-offs should mix with those who risked their lives for their country.
Not beforehand, when the dressing rooms are understandably closed to visitors, but afterwards, particularly for those military personnel who support the victorious team.
The League often come up with promising ideas, and this excellent initiative deserves to be adopted by the Premier League as well.
For all its glamour, English football has an image problem when it comes to altruism. Many footballers do frequent, oft-unpublicised good work off the pitch.
Stars such as David James, Frank Lampard, Ryan Giggs, Chris Powell and Theo Walcott (whose father was in the RAF) regularly devote time to assist charity or community campaigns.
Phil Neville's fundraising for Manchester Children's Hospital is well-known. Danny Murphy is an eloquent ambassador for Fulham and football.
But others who inhabit the millionaire's playground of English football could really benefit from being reminded that the world does not revolve around them.
Some are on the fringes of the England squad. An hour's conversation with a soldier being rehabilitated at Headley Court, a man probably of similar age, might give the player a greater appreciation of his own fortune.
He might want to work harder in training, spending more time improving his skills and seizing this fabulous opportunity. Caps could follow. More money could be made. Even for the Kings of Bling it must make sense.
The plan is in its early stages but a link-up between the Forces and football must be encouraged.
If an enlightened administrator like Gordon Taylor, the chief executive of the Professional Footballers' Association, backed the proposal it would really flourish.
And if it brings comfort to a wounded British serviceman, a reality check to a footballer on the brink of going off the rails, and helps present English football in a more positive, less greedy light, it must be worth pursuing.
Football League's initiative would be a force for good for pampered players
A British soldier who lost a leg treading on a mine in Basra could teach certain footballers a lot about the true cost of sacrifice, giving the self-absorbed pro a timely sense of perspective about the real world.
An opportunity now arises for members of the Armed Forces injured in Iraq and Afghanistan to meet their sporting icons, and for the players to encounter some genuine heroes. All parties will benefit.
At the invitation of Lord Mawhinney, the Football League chairman, patients from the Defence Medical Rehabilitation Centre at Headley Court will again be special guests at Wembley for the May play-offs.
They will do a lap of honour, some on crutches, others in wheelchairs, and fans will applaud them as they did amid emotional scenes last year.
Watching their teams in action and given VIP treatment will, of course, be a memorable event for the soldiers, pilots and naval personnel.
Fans will enjoy the chance to laud the selfless Services. But this year the Forces' involvement could go further. The League are mulling over a suggestion that those contesting the play-offs should mix with those who risked their lives for their country.
Not beforehand, when the dressing rooms are understandably closed to visitors, but afterwards, particularly for those military personnel who support the victorious team.
The League often come up with promising ideas, and this excellent initiative deserves to be adopted by the Premier League as well.
For all its glamour, English football has an image problem when it comes to altruism. Many footballers do frequent, oft-unpublicised good work off the pitch.
Stars such as David James, Frank Lampard, Ryan Giggs, Chris Powell and Theo Walcott (whose father was in the RAF) regularly devote time to assist charity or community campaigns.
Phil Neville's fundraising for Manchester Children's Hospital is well-known. Danny Murphy is an eloquent ambassador for Fulham and football.
But others who inhabit the millionaire's playground of English football could really benefit from being reminded that the world does not revolve around them.
Some are on the fringes of the England squad. An hour's conversation with a soldier being rehabilitated at Headley Court, a man probably of similar age, might give the player a greater appreciation of his own fortune.
He might want to work harder in training, spending more time improving his skills and seizing this fabulous opportunity. Caps could follow. More money could be made. Even for the Kings of Bling it must make sense.
The plan is in its early stages but a link-up between the Forces and football must be encouraged.
If an enlightened administrator like Gordon Taylor, the chief executive of the Professional Footballers' Association, backed the proposal it would really flourish.
And if it brings comfort to a wounded British serviceman, a reality check to a footballer on the brink of going off the rails, and helps present English football in a more positive, less greedy light, it must be worth pursuing.