Transfer dramas lacking in Kiwi sport
Coutinho controversy typical of English football but similar transfer sagas would liven up Super Rugby
Philippe Coutinho, one of Liverpool’s best and most important players, will this weekend sit out the second match of the new Premier League season.
The Brazilian was absent as Liverpool last week opened their domestic campaign with a 3- 3 draw against Watford, missing also on Wednesday when the Reds travelled to Hoffenheim and put one foot in the Champions League groups stages with a 2- 1 win in their two- leg qualifier.
The official explanation for Coutinho’s inactivity is a back injury. It’s purely a coincidence, the club tells us, that the midfielder earlier in the month handed in a transfer request amid fevered interest from Spanish giants Barcelona.
There’s no doubting the situation is awkward for Liverpool and their fans — manager Jurgen Klopp was rather understated when he said it was “not cool” being unable to call on such a key player — but for the rest of us?
It’s yet another delightful quirk of the Premier League and a reminder of the off- field entertainment thoroughly lacking in New Zealand sport.
Transfer sagas dragging throughout the long off- season can certainly be one of the more tiresome aspects of football. It’s summer, there are no games and little else to talk about. But once the campaign kicks off, so too does the real fascination.
Now, suddenly, there is a pressing deadline: the end of the transfer window at the end of the month. Now, we see some players turn out for one team one week and wear a different kit the next, while others like Coutinho suffer mysterious — and almost always temporary — ailments while waiting for proposed moves to arise. Now the fun really begins. Imagine if, two weeks into the Super Rugby season, a player essentially went on strike while attempting to engineer a shift from a struggling franchise ( let’s face it, the Blues) to one with a better chance of success.
Imagine if that player had his wishes grudgingly granted before eventually returning with his new side, forced now to face up to his former teammates and the hostile reception that would inevitably await from the once- adoring public.
Such a scenario would add a much- needed element of drama to what can occasionally be staid Kiwi codes, offering intrigue outside the lines and perhaps even a little spite where none previously existed.
And don’t just take football’s word for it; look at the example of the massive entertainment industry that is American sport. Mid- season trade deadlines are an annual feature in baseball and basketball, with the hours leading up to D- Day as exciting as any actual game.
The rumours and negotiations and eventual transactions are more interesting to discuss than a favourite team’s tactics, with fans debating whether the loss of a particular player will be sorely felt or whether the potential return will account for any disappointment.
Liverpool may indeed farewell Coutinho before the window slams Iguodala: “Kevin Durant!” Earlier in the week, Stephen Curry, Under Armour’s key client, had a similarly modern message when the company’s chief executive resigned from Donald Trump’s manufacturing council, tweeting four emojis: two of clapping hands, one of a bulging bicep and one V for victory.
Curry — like Durant, a former MVP in the NBA — had previously expressed reservations about visiting the White House with Trump in office and, after winning his second title in June, said the Warriors were “going to have a conversation”.
It’s unclear whether that conversation has taken place but now, with their best player set to stay away, it would be surprising if Golden State’s other stars didn’t follow suit.
“I feel ever since he's got into office, or since he ran for the presidency, our country has been so divided, and it's not a coincidence,” Durant said. “When [ Barack] Obama was in office, things were looking up. We had so much hope in our communities where I come from because we had a black president, and that was a first.
“So to see that and to be where we shut but if so, they can always experience the consolation of a lastminute splurge to spend some of the profits. Or they could frustrate both player and pursuer, leaving Barcelona to frantically look elsewhere as they seek to splash the cash they made are now, it just felt like we took a turn for the worse, man. It all comes from who is in the administration. It comes from the top. Leadership trickles down to the rest of us.
“So, you know, if we have someone in office that doesn't care about all people, then we won't go anywhere as a country. In my opinion, until we get him out of here, we won't see any progress.” Speaking of the search for progress, and speaking of a divided country, this week feels a particularly apt time to revisit the continuing national anthem protest in the NFL.
Unfortunately for the league and the white billionaire team owners who hold so much sway, blackballing quarterback Colin Kaepernick has done little to take attention away from the issue. Quite the opposite, in fact.
While the man who initiated last year’s protest remains locked out of the NFL, other players have continued Kaepernick’s activism in his absence.
Philadelphia Eagles safety Malcolm Jenkins is one, raising his fist from Neymar’s record sale to Paris Saint- Germain.
All will be revealed in the next fortnight, while the Premier League continues apace on the pitch. It might not be cool for the likes of Klopp, but it’s enjoyable for the rest of us. over his head during the playing of the Star- Spangled Banner throughout the pre- season. Just yesterday, before a game against the Buffalo Bills, Jenkins was supported by teammate Chris Long, who is white and a native of Charlottesville, Virginia, the town rocked earlier in the week by racial violence at a white supremacist rally.
Seattle Seahawks defensive end Michael Bennett is another, saying he will remain seated during the anthem all season and paying tribute to Kaepernick: “He had to sacrifice. He spoke up and dealt with a lot of things that were going on — from death threats, people not wanting him in the stadium, people hating him.”
And, just because this section has been rather sober, we’ll finish with the words of another, Oakland Raiders running back Marshawn Lynch, who this week also remained seated to take a stand and yesterday explained his stance when a reporter asked him to address the elephant in the room.
“I think that elephant just left the room because a little mouse ran in here. Didn’t they say elephants is scared of mouses or something? That motherf— er left, cousin.” American football coaches are strange creatures. It’s quite common for them to work 20- hour days and sleep at the office, such is their desire to win a few games. It’s also common for them to dream up weird and wonderful gimmicks to motivate their players, with Atlanta Falcons head coach Dan Quinn the latest to try something creative. A photo of Quinn’s office this week delighted the internet, featuring a clock that had undergone some alterations so every number was replaced with the word ‘ NOW’. As in, ‘ What’s the time, coach?’ ‘ The time is NOW.’ Pretty lame but nowhere near as bad as some of Quinn’s peers. . .
In 2014, after his Oakland Raiders had lost their first four games of the season, Sparano attempted to spark a fresh start . . . by digging a hole on the practice field and burying a football. “What this ball represents,” Sparano said while looking like an idiot, “are the first four games of the season. This ball, to me, goes in this hole. OK? Four games’ worth. All right? Goes in the hole.” That season was Sparano’s last as an NFL head coach.
Speaking of inventive ways to snap losing streaks, in 2003 Del Rio placed a huge tree stump and an axe in the middle of the Jacksonville Jaguars locker room, encouraging his players to take hacks out of the wood and emphasise his totally sensible mantra, ‘ Keep chopping wood’. Hmm. An axe in the locker room. What could go wrong? Well, punter Chris Hanson soon buried the axe in his leg, having to undergo emergency and seasonending surgery.
A little less elaborate, this one. Trailing 20- 3 at halftime in a 2008 game, the San Francisco 49ers coach delivered his team talk and dropped his pants. “I used my pants to illustrate that we were getting our tails whipped,” Singletary said, “and how humiliating that should feel for all of us.” The Niners still lost.