Football and huge amounts of money have become synonymous: for example the recent transfer of Spanish footballer Fernando Torres from Liverpool to Chelsea for close on 50 million pounds and Gerald Pique, Barcelona defender's four and a half million outlay for his 'attic' on Calle Muntaner in Barcelona. You can see why parents want their kids to be footballers! There's money, real money for the favoured few who make it to the top. Pop-stars and film stars are less-favoured by parents because of their association with anti-social downsides such as drugs and alcohol. Football with its random medical checks, generally displays a clean-living label which appeals to parents. Managers and trainers keep a tight rein on their collection (team) of players and are not so far removed from in locum parentis figures.
However,one of the La Vanguardia journalists, a woman with a young son recently attended a match between two junior teams and was horrified at the supporters - mostly male parents - who vilified the referees' decisions, jeered at the trainer and egged on their offsprings using expressions more fitting to Colosseum crowds in ancient Rome. She found out that some of these 'hooligan' parents are regularly banned from matches for such behaviour.
Naturally this affects the players too. The aim of such games according to schools is to train youngsters in skills and techniques and to let them enjoy exercise. But egged on by parents, they start playing to win, displaying the 'better a winner than a loser be' attitude. And it's winning in whatever way and using whatever tactics. So they ape the worst aspects of professionalism: hold onto jerseys; do ankle taps on opponents in full flight; threaten smaller players and above all constantly dispute decisions - tactics which they see their heroes doing in high-profile matches on TV.
The bookies would say the odds of their little darlings achieving a position on teams of the calibre of Barca are several zillions to one. Barca's catchment area is not Barcelona - nor is the team we see 'made in Barcelona'. Their son is probably more likely to be eaten by a shark than play at Camp Nou, or to commit hari-kari because he doesn't come up to daddy's impossibly high expectations.For many kids all the joy has gone out of playing due to parental-imposed stress on them to win. When did you last see a professional footballer with a grin on his face most of the game - Messi and the Ronaldinho of old apart?
So what is it about today's parents that we try to force our kids into moulds and then wonder why they lock themselves away in their rooms and chat to their friends? And what is the fastest-growing industry in Europe today? Fashion for kids, turning out three year-old Lady Gagas, five year old Penelope Cruz's, Ronaldo ridge-back hairlines. Puyol poodle-cuts. Kids go straight from the cradle to mini-adults and miss out the pram and childhood on the way. All we seem to want are cut- down versions of someone we would like to have been and never had the talent. Is that really the best we can offer?
