Sports

This isn't going to be too bad of a post and it may turn into a rant, but that isn't what I'm intending with this post. In fact I'm not 100% sure where I want to go with this post, but hey ho here we go.....

As a child you either love sport or abhore it, simple, not really a two way thing. If you love it you live for the sport of your choice, you breathe it for every second. You watch sport on the tv, you go to the sports stadia to watch and then you transfer that to the back yard or road and play. If your really good, you move from the neighbourhood over to the local team and start on the track to superstardom. It's a familiar journey for kids all over the world. If your good enough you keep moving along the track till you call in at your station.

That station for the lucky few, is the station where everyone wants to be, at the top of the sport of your choice, your face recognised by fans around the town/country or even world. Companies throwing money at you to wear there brand of clothes or the drink there drink. Teams possibly spending millions of pounds to make you part of there organisation. I envy those at that station, I wish I was at that station, I could have been. I had other problems though, other journey's to make.

For some people it isn't about teams it's about themselves and that makes it all the more easier, than those on teams. For those on teams are at the mercy of the managers or even the banks. It can't be easy, playing on a regular basis some where and then being moved on by the team. I'm sure that isn't the way things are done, but it's the way it seems to the outside world. Teams call press conferences and a player appears who was playing else where the other day. All the roots in terms of house and schools and friends are left behind, and new roots have to be made.

Then of course the hard part for those few, do they like the new friends on the team they play for? Will they fit into the team as such, will the others accept them? What was thought of as acceptable with your previous team may not be acceptable now. New coaches offer new challenges, but that's all part of being a pro sportsman. It's part of the trade as such, you knuckle down and play the game that made you good enough for that team to spend the money on you.

Today however, something new has appeared on the scene, something which worries me some what. Not that it's now effecting my team, but because it's something which till recently wasn't really considered much of a problem. Sports men and women accept that they can be moved on, it's the way of life for them, and has been since they were very young. It's the partners of these people though that now seem to have the say. Ok, these people are very important to the sport stars, in fact they may even be family and that is possibly more important than work. Yet, at times these people don't seem willing to accept that the person they married may be moved to another town at some point. They don't accept that this is what they married into, and they stamp and scream to the point of destruction.

This can't be easy on the sports stars, as apart from having to do a job, they have problems at home. So who wins the family or the team? With some people the team is seen as an alternate family, one which will be there to share problems with, but won't be around forever. Others seem to put the family at home as priority which is fine by me, but at some point though comprimise has to be made. RIght now comprimise for some seems to be move away and don't look back. It isn't always the answer.

I don't think that the excuse "My partner isn't settled in this town" is an answer to plead for a move. It's just plain crazy, it makes you look stupid. David Beckham is one of the most recognisable sports men in the world, his wife's PR company saw to that. She knew when she started dating him, he lived and played in Manchester. She knew that he was very happy there, it was his second home as such. So why after marrying him does she then complain about living in the place? She married someone equally as famous as herself, she married someone who worked every day to make his money. She moved up here, to be with him but soon started to try and make him move back to London. I'm sure she orchastrated the move to Madrid, which makes him look even siller than half the haircuts he's had.

You marry into sports, you should accept that it isn't the normal way of life. It's over quite early in life for most people, and then it's back to the real world. Some stay in sport doing various media jobs or coaching, but quite a few move on. Accept that once the sports career is over, you can go live where you want, for as long as you want, and don't go wrecking the apple cart for your partner.