“I’ve always assumed my responsibilities and I’ve always embraced them under pressure in moments like this. Today, I’ve failed.”
If only our politicians could demonstrate the same level of contrition for their mistakes as Premier League footballers do for committing the unspeakable crime of missing a penalty. Chance would be a fine thing.
The word “failure” figures in the lexicon of Manchester United‘s No 10, but doesn’t seem to for the occupier of No 10. A few hours after his wayward, injury-time penalty had denied his side a point at home to Aston Villa came the inevitable social media apology from Bruno Fernandes, combining a lengthy caption with a classic sad-person-JPEG.
The words “frustrated”, “disappointed” and “failed” were among the 187 painstakingly typed out by Fernandes’ fingertips. There was also a vow to “come back stronger” – a classic of the genre – and a commitment to continue taking on responsibility “without any fear or dread whenever called upon”. It was an eloquent summation of Fernandes’ feelings and those who witnessed him trudging, head down, from the Old Trafford pitch at the final whistle would have no reason to doubt his sentiments.
Skill only gets an elite athlete so far; searing introspection at the slightest slip in standards and the relentless pursuit of excellence act as constant drivers for those at the pinnacle of their sport. Fernandes’ teammate Cristiano Ronaldo is frequently championed as football’s poster boy for dedication, transforming himself from a scrawny show pony into a muscle-bound master of accomplishment. Fernandes has also worked hard at his craft having started out in the inauspicious settings of Italy’s second-tier with Novara.
His feelings of remorse were inevitable given the sky-high standards he has set since during his career to date. Saturday’s penalty miss was only his second in 23 attempts in a United shirt and the ramifications of it ensured it was particularly painful. Not only did United go on to lose, but Fernandes’ status as the first-choice taker is also now suddenly under threat from his Portuguese compatriot. Perhaps the post was Fernandes’ way of processing what had happened to help him move on from it.
Regardless, the prevalence of apologies plastered across a variety of platforms is bizarre. In how many other professions do employees feel duty-bound to issue their public regret for making an entirely honest mistake? You’re unlikely to see Johnny from Sainbury’s posting seven paragraphs worth of repentance on Facebook for stacking the baked beans on the wrong shelf.
Fernandes was not the only player to write his thoughts down on social media this weekend. Wycombe Wanderers defender Anthony Stewart also issued an online apology to fans on Saturday after getting sent off for conceding a match-winning penalty against Ipswich Town.
A few months ago, Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho and Bukayo Saka all said sorry for missing penalties in the Euro 2020 final, despite each receiving racist abuse for not scoring. Just let the absurdity of that statement sink in for a second. The English population should have been apologising to them, not the other way around.
Both Fernandes and Stewart’s posts were inundated with supportive messages from teammates. Ronaldo replied with a fist bump emoji; Harry Maguire replied with a love heart; Juan Mata posted four emojis of a flexed bicep. Stewart’s teammates rallied around him too, with Ryan Tafazolli even insisting that it was his fault that the defender had been caught out.
The question to be asked here is why do footballers do this? Or more pertinently why do they feel the need to do this? Maybe supporters have become so entitled and demanding that it’s a damage limitation exercise to try and control the narrative and minimise the inevitable backlash that will come their way. Perhaps agents and advisors encourage it as some sort of brand-building exercise; remorse repurposed and repackaged as humility. Or it could just be that footballers have always wanted to vent after making a crucial error and now in the social media age, have the means to do so.
But football’s apology culture has gone too far. There are far more heinous crimes than accidentally skewing a penalty over the crossbar.
from Football – inews.co.uk https://ift.tt/2XX6FTQ
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