We are just footballers ...not targets for abuse
THE first time I truly appreciated that life as a professional footballer would be different came one night in a bar when I was playing for Portsmouth.
I was only 20 and was doing what all 20-year- olds like to do, having a few drinks and a good time. I’ll never forget this night, though, as someone came up behind me and punched me in the face. He ran off after doing it and I never saw him again. I also never set foot in that particular bar again.
It was a painful lesson but I tell the story on the back of the incident Jordan Pickford experienced last Sunday. I’m not here to condemn Jordan, a goalkeeper I greatly admire, as I know exactly how he would have felt after extreme provocation.
When I played for Liverpool, Abbey and I booked a holiday to Ibiza at the end of one season and were going to take an EasyJet flight from manchester. When we got to the gate, a few of our fellow passengers were already in the party mood and they started heckling me.
None of that bothered me — I’d heard everything they said a thousand times and more — but when the insults were aimed at Abbey, the situation changed. I knew if we had boarded that plane there would be problems so we made the decision to leave it. We flew from London the next day instead.
That’s what I find so frustrating. Had I reacted in the way Jordan did, my name would have been in the media while those who had been antagonising us would have got no mention. I understand why that is but how can it be right that those who cause the issues remain anonymous?
Critics have the idea that footballers do not want to mix with the public but, believe me, that isn’t the case. We aren’t different but the profile that comes with our profession means you are always going to be a target for someone, somewhere. I remember during my time at Tottenham, I was in a bar in Surrey. I was walking to the toilets and I heard two lads, as clear as anything, say: ‘There’s Peter Crouch, let’s go and have some trouble.’ I walked straight out the door and went home. I was speechless.
Reading the above, you might think my life is difficult but, honestly, that isn’t the case. The good times far outweigh the bad and I am lucky that the majority of opposition fans tend to be good-natured when I meet them. I don’t turn down photos or autographs and I’m never, ever rude.
There is this aspect, though, that because we play football, some people believe they can treat us how they want or say what they want. They want us to be approachable but I’ve seen enough cases of the line being stepped over and what happened to Jordan was another example.
He knows, of course, that he made a mistake in reacting, even if it was only human nature. you have to learn — no matter how hard the situation — that the best thing is to always walk away. But, as I said, there is something sad about it all.
Jordan Pickford only wanted to be in a place that he knew with his friends and family. He hasn’t changed. His circumstances — effectively a job promotion with a move to Everton and becoming England’s No 1 — have changed. Why should he be a target?
Why should any footballer be a target?