Gary Linekar said goodbye to Match of the Day and the BBC last night, after 26 years presenting the programme. There was a lot of praise for his work as a presenter from footballers and pundits. His departure in the end was hastened by his criticism of Zionist Israel and standing up for Gaza. According to this article, it wasn’t the first time he was more than a little outspoken.
There was his opening monologue to the 2022 Qatar World Cup, in which he succinctly but pointedly laid out all the human rights abuses that had occurred in the host country, and quickly put FIFA under pressure for allowing it to happen. It made for unexpectedly stirring television.
Then, post-Covid, his outspokenness grew more pronounced. In 2023, he created a firestorm by comparing the Conservative government’s language surrounding asylum seekers to “that used by Germany in the 30s”. The press were kicked into a frenzy and called for his head. The BBC decided to take him off-air for the next episode. In solidarity, pundits like Ian Wright, Alan Shearer, Micah Richards and Jermaine Jenas refused to appear on the episode. In the end a weird compromise was struck, with the BBC showing a commentary-free compilation of highlights from that day’s matches. For some, it was the best episode in years.
Sports pundits are apparently meant to keep their commentary to their preferred sport. Quite often actors are similarly expected to keep their mouths shut. Only when they appear on something like Desert Island Discs are they really allowed to have opinions.
Marcus Rashford a star player for Manchester United and the England squad, got away with it when he spent the pandemic campaigning hard to fight child food poverty in the UK. He‘s spoken publicly about his personal experiences as a child growing up in Manchester with a single parent, and how this has influenced his work and activism.
He pushed the government to provide free meals to children in financially struggling families during the school holidays nationwide. He also recently set up a task force to end child food poverty in the UK.
Would he get away with it if he were criticising Mr Starmer’s government?
Otherwise footballers are allowed to be charitable:
There’s Ronaldo: In 2015 Cristiano Ronaldo was named the most charitable athlete in the world for the vast sums of money he donates to various causes, including £53,000 to pay for a 10-month-old baby’s operation and the funding of a nine-year-old cancer patient’s medical bills.
A research centre at the hospital where Ronaldo’s mother was treated for cancer was also funded by the Portuguese’s £105,000 donation.
And Salah: Egyptian child Abdelrahman Mahmoud suffers from bone marrow cancer and requires an expensive transplant.
Finding out his compatriot’s dream was to meet Mohammed Salah, the Liverpool forward is in regular contact with him, and is paying for his treatment.
Not a stranger to a kind gesture, Salah has also donated to the Association of Veteran Egyptian Players and turned down a luxury villa as a reward for getting Egypt to the World Cup, instead asking businessman Mamdouh Abbas to donate to his home village
And Drogba: African player Didier Drogba has his own foundation that provides food,
clothing, educational and health supplies to poor children in Africa. And he has received an award for his work in Africa with his foundation. The player has also collaborated in the construction of hospitals and orphanages for children.
Their actions are allowed to speak but their words, apparently, should be kept to themselves.
Meanwhile, the killing goes on in Gaza. Here’s a link to an article about a doctor who lost nine of her own children when an airstrike struck the family home (is a tent or shelter a home?) while she was working to save the lives of other injured children.
And the starvation continues. Here’s a link to an article about the head of the US-backed Gaza aid group who has resigned because he says the job is impossible and the plan unworkable.
“That plan, which had been set to begin by the end of May, was initiated by Israel and involves private companies – instead of the UN and aid groups who have handled Palestinian aid for decades – transporting aid into Gaza to a limited number of so-called secure distribution sites, which Israel said would be in Gaza’s south.
Heads of household would be expected to collect boxes weighing up to 20kg with several days’ supply of food and basic hygiene items like soap for their families. There is no provision for those too sick or weakened by famine to walk long distances across Gaza’s ruined landscape with heavy loads.
“From what we have understood, the plan would increase the ongoing suffering of children and families in the Gaza Strip,” UN children’s fund spokesperson Jonathan Crickx said earlier this month.
“How is a mother of four children, who has lost her husband, going to carry 20kg back to her makeshift tent, sometimes several kilometres away?” Crickx said. “The most vulnerable people, including the elderly, people with disabilities, the sick and wounded, and orphans, will face huge challenges to access aid.””
And only now are some of the mass media even talking about the problem.
Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone!
No comments:
Post a Comment