da fazobetai： While on holiday in Ibiza a 20-year-old lad sucks on a legal high nitrous oxide and giggles for a while. A short hop and a skip down to the Canary Islands meanwhile sees a teenager enjoying a sunshine break with his mates and getting suitably leathered.
da bet vitoria： This is what passes for scandal these days in the sanitised world of the Premier League. Where players are expected to perform for ninety minutes twice a week then immediately cocoon themselves in their mansions slurping down recovery shakes and watching Homes Under The Hammer. The monk’s habit is optional.
Whatever your thoughts on the recent actions of Raheem Sterling and Jack Grealish it ultimately comes down to your own personal morality gauge, but the media…well the media predictably went nuclear.
The laughing Liverpool striker and conked out Villa prodigy were splashed across front pages with all-too-familiar faux-outrage and condemnation.
How dare these two wealthy young men act their ages during a rare off-season. Don’t they realise they have an obligation to, erm, someone?
This outpouring of horror that amounted to The Simpson’s Helen Lovejoy shrieking ‘Won’t somebody think of the children?!’ is odd, especially so considering that twenty years ago – and certainly in every era that preceded the formation of the ‘Best League In The World’™ – each tale would barely have been deemed newsworthy.
This throws up some interesting questions. Are we collectively more virtuous and downright Christian than in times past? Sociologists would very much beg to differ. Or are we simply more judgemental, browbeaten under a deluge of manufactured scandals that are necessary to fill a 24 hour news-cycle and millions of twitter feeds?
And to what extent are footballers really role-models to our sons and daughters? These are children incidentally who would have no clue to their hero’s predilection for laughing gas or booze were it not plastered across newspapers in their homes.
Whatever the truths one thing is abundantly clear, that these days we are far more outraged about far less, as the examples below reveal…
Beagrie goes bananas
On a pre-season tour of Spain in 1991 Everton’s Peter Beagrie guzzled away his entire cash advance on a momentous drinking binge before thumbing a lift back to the team hotel off a Spanish motorcyclist.
Reluctant to awake the hotel porter Beagrie thought it far more sensible to commandeer the bike and race up the hotel steps whereupon he smashed through a large plate glass window. The accident resulted in fifty stitches and presumably the mother of all hangovers.
As the boozy mist cleared and the bandages were being applied it eventually dawned on the Toffees winger it was the wrong hotel anyway.
Punishment and reaction then: Dealt with internally.
Now: Tabloid headlines screaming ‘BEAGRIE BIKE BEDLAM’ accompanied by a multitude of pious columnists referring to footballers as uneducated animals. Evertonians meanwhile start a social media campaign to get their winger sacked while scapegoating him in hindsight for a poor season.
Bowles takes a bet
It’s fair to state that seventies maverick Stan Bowles liked a flutter and in December 1972 a tip from a friend led to a sizable sum being lumped on a runner in the 3.20.
Unfortunately QPR were playing away at Brighton at the time and hearing early in the second half that his nag had duly romped home Bowles feigned injury at the next tackle that connected and Keysor Soze-ed his way off the pitch.
A quick shower and change and he was in a cab heading to a greyhound meet – winnings in hand – before the final whistle blew.
Punishment and reaction then – Nothing of note save for gales of laughter from a thousand after-dinner speeches.
Now: Immediate sacking by club and chin-stroking analysis by media on the link between players’ wages and gambling. Stan would presumably have to declare himself an addict and look remorseful and helpless in a Sun exclusive before even getting a sniff of top flight action again.
Johnston’s set-piece swig
Trotting over to take a corner for the Vancouver Whitecaps in 1982, Scottish legend Willie Johnston spies a fan enjoying a beer. Partial to a drop or two Johnston reaches out and takes a swig before curling in a pinpoint cross that results in the deciding goal. Hero.
The ex-Rangers winger had form at corners having once sold his shed to a supporter during a break for injury.
Punishment and reaction then: Nothing whatsoever. It was a bit of fun and raised a few laughs.
Now: It’s hard to imagine Steven Gerrard or Frank Lampard doing similar next term but should they fancy a glug of watered-down American catp**s the response would be entirely depressing.
Firstly the media would angle it as the player being disrespectful to the MLS; a big-time charlie taking the bucks while belittling a flourishing league. Next an erroneous rumour on Twitter would take flight claiming it was a stunt staged by Budweiser in cahoots with the player and all for a small fortune he barely needs.
The player would then widely be castigated for his greed.
Shanks has a fit
Following an exhibition match in Belguim the QPR squad were unwinding with a drink or several in a nearby bar. With proceedings nicely piqued at boisterous and for reasons only known to himself Hoops scallywag Don Shanks then decided to bring things down by feigning an epileptic fit.
Onto the floor he fell, beery foam spewing from his mouth. Cue utter carnage with concerned locals and a very peeved landlord once the ruse became apparent. The police were called and Shanks spent the evening in a Belgium jail.
Punishment and reaction then: None bar a ticking off. Unless you count later dating a Miss World as a punishment. And we don’t.
Now: A media apocalypse complete with opening segment on the 6-o-clock news that includes a heart-rending interview with a sufferer of the condition. She speaks gravely of the need for the player to be sacked.
Widespread calls for a public lynching is only curtailed when Shanks makes a sizable donation to Epilepsy UK.
Best and Marsh tackle each other
It’s an iconic moment and one that probably best epitomises a time when football was viewed as entertainment first and foremost.
With both George Best and Rodney Marsh enjoying Indian Summers at Craven Cottage the good times came to Fulham as the genius and nearly-genius rank amok.
On a hat-trick and aggrieved at perceived ball-hogging by his mate Marsh twice attempts to tackle his team-mate, a surreal sight that prompts a huge cheer from the crowd, a chuckle from the commentator, and wide grins from the cheeky twosome.
Punishment and reaction then: None of course
Now: Judging by the recent negative reactions to Neymar and his hate-crime of ‘showboating’ social media would be buzzing with disapproval at the disrespect shown to their opponents.
It’s just not what the game is about.
A rent-a-gob former pro meanwhile would no doubt claim he’d have broken both their legs if he had been present.