Saturday, December 06, 2008

Snap Out of It Ron

This is not about Ron winning yet another award, albeit this one is the European Footballer of the Year; this is about a puny kid who grew up playing football on the streets tourists don’t visit, in Funchal, Island of Madeira.

From a young age, he looked promising, so he was brought to Lisbon aged 11 to be schooled with other kids like him and to develop his football skills. He achieved the second goal with distinction. The first goal, not so much. But who needs that when you have the respect and admiration of everybody around you for what you can do with your feet…
Doors were opening wide for the lad and he was barely 18. His dad, however, would not live to see “the boy wonder” turn into a global phenomenon, and too often, a prima-dona…

His father-figure has since become Alex Fergunson, his manager at ManU. But it is a tough job to baby-sit a young lad (23 y.o) that had a meteoric rise to fame and stardom. Especially if his humble beginnings were in a country that has once gain a position of prominence by craft and hard-work but then tossed it away due to self-indulgence.
C. Ronaldo is a tragic reflection of Portugal.

Portugal is a little Napolean - small, provincial, full of complexes; but sees itself as a giant and tries to measure up with the large countries of Europe. This often leads to frustration, followed shortly by poor self-esteem.
However, once and again, someone breaks away from this pattern and actually becomes one of the best in its trade. Voilá, presto, an instant big-headed Portuguese is made for the world to gasp upon, to love or to hate, whatever you fancy.

There are exceptions, of course. Say Figo, for instance. So there is no excuse for Ron to be an arrogant di**. Or dumb. But he can't be bothered and isn't the least worried, just as long he has people backing him and excusing his tantrums.

Quite frankly,C. Ronaldo and Mourinho, they both seem immune to negative feedback. They just believe in themselves too much to care what half of the world thinks (tinks, as they say) about them.
It is also true that some people are just plain jealous, but more and more people who closed an eye to Ron’s controversial behaviour in face of his football merits, are beginning to get fed up with his attitude as he’s not performing anymore and is letting us all down. However, I believe Ron will bounce back as he’s overdue to mature any day now..
Please forgive some duplication, as I already posted about this subject before.

Ps – Players of all nationalities dive, feign injuries, and use a all range of unsportsmanlike tactics to get leverage - let’s not get cocky and xenophobe about it, as I am tired of seeing that sort of fabrications being attributed merely to Southern-Europeans.
The difference is others may get away with it, because they are not Ron.

He still needs to man-up when things are not coming out right.
If he’s the best, then he has to step up and act like he’s the best.
So far, he’s not even on the same level as Figo used to be.

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