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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:
PeckhamPauline · 12/07/2018 07:54

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

English players donate their all match fees and incentives earned from national team duties to charities, one of which is organized by England players themselves, called “England Footballers Foundation support Cancer Research”.

ShatnersBassoon · 12/07/2018 07:57

English players donate their all match fees and incentives earned from national team duties to charities, one of which is organized by England players themselves, called “England Footballers Foundation support Cancer Research”.

I don't know that Smile

pigeondujour · 12/07/2018 07:58

do England supporters who think footballers are heroes realise how stupid that makes THEM sound.

They're probably okay with understanding how words work in context, tbh.

ShatnersBassoon · 12/07/2018 07:58

*didn't - sounds like I'm doubting it, which I'm not Blush

Happypuppy · 12/07/2018 07:59

What a pointless, virtue signalling thread this is.

ProfessorMoody · 12/07/2018 07:59

Saving lives and playing a game are incomparable.

YANBU. Footballers are not heroes.

CtrlCandCtrlV · 12/07/2018 08:03

the hysteria over the football players is ridiculous. They are a bunch of young, fit and talented young men in a sport tournament. Some of them are doing amazing things on the side, unknown to the media usually, to help out sick kids and various charities. A few does it in front of the cameras to boost their profile too.

Describing them as heroes, "carrying the weight of the country on their shoulder" (FFS!) for not losing earlier in the world cup is a bit much.

Would they even be involved in football if they were paid minimum wage for it? We will never know, but their huge salary and the lifestyle has a lot to do with their vocation. I don't begrudge their cash, it's part of the game btw.

Sparklesocks · 12/07/2018 08:05

Yanbu but absolutely nobody on earth is saying footballers are more worthy than the divers.

I would say they are heroes to young people who look up to them, particularly children from inner cities. That doesn’t take anything away from the cave divers. You are allowed to laud different people for different reasons. There’s not a finite number of people you’re allowed to respect or admire.

Unfinishedkitchen · 12/07/2018 08:05

Professor - they are not hero’s in YOUR opinion but some 10 year old may see them as THEIR hero. Is that ok with you? Are people allowed to have their own hero’s?

Original poster
Bonjourmonami73 · 12/07/2018 08:09

@happy why is this virtue signalling? The British press are a bunch of tossers who manipulate the national psyche by using ridiculous, inappropriate language.

Go and read a different thread if you don’t want to participate in a discussion.

OP posts:
RunMummyRun68 · 12/07/2018 08:10

Here we go, typical mumsnet claptrapHmm

OohMavis · 12/07/2018 08:10

Weve called da footballers heroes, dat meanz da cave divas arnt heroes enmore Sad #discustin

Or, you know, the word can mean different things to different people, and one different contextual use of the word doesn't negate another.

What a pointless, virtue signalling thread this is.

Yep.

AnnabelleLecter · 12/07/2018 08:11

Yes god forbid if working class white lads or even worse dual heritage/black and some of them northerners FFS get any praise for doing great things with their lives.
Or worse inspire others from similar backgrounds to achieve outstanding success.
And get paid lots of money too?
Wtf is wrong with them?
Exactly the sort of dismissive snobbery I expect from certain types on MN.

Yabvvu.
The England footballers are heroes. Hth

mmmgoats · 12/07/2018 08:11

I think it would
irritate me more if the press hadn’t highlighted the bravery of the divers but they have repeatedly. And flagged them up as heroes, had headlines saying they deserve knighthoods etc - I think footballers are just different kinds of heroes.

CtrlCandCtrlV · 12/07/2018 08:15

they are not hero’s in YOUR opinion but some 10 year old may see them as THEIR hero. Is that ok with you?

so are the Xfactor contestants, the TOWIE lot and various boy/girl band members. I am not sure that it's such a good thing.

I like how some posters judge it as snobbery, you know it's not true. It's not working class football players vs posh everything else. Don't be so ridiculous. Nice try, but you know it's not true.

ilovesooty · 12/07/2018 08:21

It's about context.
This thread is just an excuse to start another bit of sneering about the football.

Onwhitehorses · 12/07/2018 08:21

It's fine - and normal - to have sporting heroes. I see things which irritate me every day in the papers, but this? No.

JacquesHammer · 12/07/2018 08:25

my point is that the press use the word heroes too freely

Whilst I would tend to agree, in this case the word is used appropriately as per the literal definition.

I think it’s rather marvellous that the sport of football is going to have some pretty impressive young men for countless kids to class as heroes.

In no way does that detract from the cave rescue team (or indeed the many other folk who do dangerous jobs that doesn’t hit the media).

It isn’t a competition for who is most heroic.

Original poster
Bonjourmonami73 · 12/07/2018 08:25

“I like how some posters judge it as snobbery, you know it's not true. It's not working class football players vs posh everything else. Don't be so ridiculous. Nice try, but you know it's not true”

@ctrl yes. The implication of racism/class snobbery massively fucks me off.

OP posts:
FASH84 · 12/07/2018 08:34

I don't think there's a limit or remit on heroes, one type doesn't exclude another. We have other sporting heroes like Mo Farah, and there will be people looking up to those men as examples of what they can achieve. They nearly all grew up on council estates and have worked hard to develop their talent, some of them would've had few alternative opportunities. They've played well, behaved professionally and are some of the best in the world at what they do. If looking up to Delete Alli means a child chooses to stay out of trouble and focusses on football, is that not a good thing?

ProfessorMoody · 12/07/2018 08:34

If my DS10 saw a footballer as his hero, I'd wonder where I went wrong with my parenting. Thankfully, he is able to see what real heroes are.

derxa · 12/07/2018 08:35

This thread is just an excuse to start another bit of sneering about the football. This

JacquesHammer · 12/07/2018 08:35

Thankfully, he is able to see what real heroes are

Does he disagree with the dictionary definition of heroism then Wink

AnnabelleLecter · 12/07/2018 08:36

So what have you achieved that millions of others can only dream of? Bonjour
Anything?

Happypuppy · 12/07/2018 08:40

@bonjour

So the press are saying, “Wow those footballers are such heroes, much more so than those idiots who rescued 12 children in Thailand!” Are they?

No? Thought not. Get a fucking grip.