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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think footballers aren’t heroes, cave divers are!

100 replies

Bonjourmonami73 · 12/07/2018 06:12

Look, I know people are gutted about the football but it massively irritates me that the front pages of the papers describe them as heroes!

The British cave divers that went out to Thailand are volunteers- they risked their lives in dangerous conditions to save 12 children and their coach.

They are the ones our idiotic press should be praising and not footballers.

Aibu?

OP posts:
Squeegle · 12/07/2018 06:15

Of course you’re not. The footballers are ok, but those divers did an absolutely heroic job

Amanduh · 12/07/2018 06:16

Well the press aren’t praising the footballers OVER the cave divers though are they.

CosmicCanary · 12/07/2018 06:17

The press have been reporting on the cave divers for the last week or so. Its not like there has been media silence.

Cherrysherbet · 12/07/2018 06:17

You are absolutely right.

Shumpalumpa · 12/07/2018 06:18

YANBU. Gutted we lost but I was completely awe-inspired and dumb-founded by all the divers (not just the Brits) who risked their lives to save those boys. Football doesn't compare.

redexpat · 12/07/2018 06:18

Were the cave divers on the front pages? Dont live in the uk. If not then yes papers do praise them above the footballers.

Original poster
Bonjourmonami73 · 12/07/2018 06:19

Its the use of language particularly that irritates me- the overuse of the word Heroes! Footballers kick a ball around- they aren’t heroes!

OP posts:
Itscominghomeyesitis · 12/07/2018 06:22

To some people they are..it doesn't mean that they don't think the rescuers are too.

CosmicCanary · 12/07/2018 06:23

hero
ˈhɪərəʊ/Submit
noun
1.
a person who is admired for their courage, outstanding achievements, or noble qualities.

The word does not just mean somebody who saves lives OP

GoatYoga · 12/07/2018 06:24

Plenty of people deserve to be called Heroes - footballers don’t even come close.

Original poster
Bonjourmonami73 · 12/07/2018 06:29

@cosmic, ok, I do understand the definition in a literal sense. But I think the term is being overused in this case! The football team did pretty well and had a few good games but heroes? It feels like the wrong term in a week where truly heroic people have done truly outstanding things.

OP posts:
Angrybird345 · 12/07/2018 06:29

A footballer is doing his job. Not a hero in any sense. Even if we got to the finals. They are paid up to £250k a WEEK so should be good.

Cave divers - yes, that’s a hero.

GarethSouthgateWould · 12/07/2018 06:33

People are allowed to have their own heroes. One mans hero is another mans waste of space.

huha · 12/07/2018 06:34

YANBU

CosmicCanary · 12/07/2018 06:35

Bon they are all heros in different ways I dont see why the word can only be used for one set of people and not the other.

The England team being called heros does not take anything away from the cave divers.

pigeondujour · 12/07/2018 06:40

in a week where truly heroic people have done truly outstanding things.

'In a week where'? I'm not sure your scale is exactly bang on either Confused people do heroic things every single day. They're just not usually such dramatic things.

Also, of course the team and manager are footballing heroes for England supporters. It's not zero sum.

DoneDisappeared · 12/07/2018 06:43

They lost, not sure how that makes them heroes Hmm

pigeondujour · 12/07/2018 06:43

A footballer is doing his job.

As were many of the cave divers. Doesn't lessen their achievement.

Not a hero in any sense.

Well, yes, a hero in the sense of the definition of the word, as has been stated. It might not touch you personally, but not everything is designed to.

SmileSweetly · 12/07/2018 06:44

YANBU

Footballers are not hero's, the are overpaid sportsmen who were doing their job. Talented and hardworking, yes, but at the end of the day they lost against another team and in doing so have disappointed the nation.

Firefighters, rescue teams, teachers, nurses, paramedics etc. are the real hero's. It is ridiculous to call footballers hero's.

pigeondujour · 12/07/2018 06:45

They lost, not sure how that makes them heroes

That's okay. No one is looking to you for answers.

Original poster
Bonjourmonami73 · 12/07/2018 06:45

@pigeon but actually its very often like this in the British media. Of course people do heroic things every day- but this week there has been an extraordinary cave rescue and a football match. The press have chosen to describe the footballers as heroes. Maybe i am getting too caught up in semantics here but it seems like it sums up how the press prioritise stuff.

OP posts:
PerfectlyDone · 12/07/2018 06:45

Oh, most 'heros' are just people doing exceptional things in exceptional circumstances; I think the word gets bandied about far too much, particularly by the press.

Footballers are not heros by any definition of the word - they have a talent, they train hard, they are ridiculously well remunerated for their efforts and some of them think that somehow makes them Better And More Worthy Human Beings HmmGrin

Commiserations to the England team and its supporters though - I was hoping they'd lift the World Cup in the end so everybody would finally shut up about 1966 Thanks

FrangipaniBlue · 12/07/2018 06:48

They are paid up to £250k a WEEK so should be good.

Not playing for England they don't....

wakemeupbefore · 12/07/2018 06:53

Remind me please, how much are those 'heros' being paid for acting so very heroically for a week?
Hmm

pigeondujour · 12/07/2018 07:00

Of course people do heroic things every day- but this week there has been an extraordinary cave rescue and a football match.

Quite a few things happen on the planet in the space of a week. There will have been many heroic acts you will never, ever hear about. You're picking two random headlines to the exclusion of all others to position against each other.

The press have chosen to describe the footballers as heroes.

Come off it, it's not like they get a quota! Everyone has been describing the cave rescue as heroic. It just happens that at the same time England have been competing in the biggest international sporting competition there is, and surpassed all expectations by getting to the semi final. That's a huge deal for England supporters whether non-supporters understand why or not. Sports journalists can (reasonably) expect that the adults they're writing for - that might not be you, and that's allowed - understand the use of words in context.