From the BBC website comes a report that Pele has urged Cristiano Ronaldo to honour his contract at Man Utd. Not particularly newsworthy in itself, as Pele was in England anyway and was most likely harassed by reporters to say something on the issue. From the BBC report however, it is not entirely clear whether the reader is expected to take his comments seriously at all. See the wacky picture which accompanies said story, depicting Pele as what would be described in certain parts of Ireland as a head-the-ball.
And perhaps this is all well founded. Pele's high profile gaffes are many. In the early nineties he tipped one Nii Lamptey to be the next great player. In the run up to the World Cup in 1994, he was vocal in picking Colombia to win the tournament. They did not even make it out of the group stages, and their campaign will be remembered most for the murder of full back Andres Escobar.
While he was at it, the great one also made the bold prediction that an African side would win the World Cup by the year 2000, which of course, did not happen.
Pele is also a fully paid up member of the Too-Much-Information club. Nobody needed to know how he felt about losing his virginity: "I was scarcely 14. But let's be fair, it just wasn't my thing. It was with a homosexual that all our team used to go out with." Similarly, we do not want to hear him gush [pun, intended] about Viagra. But he does.
Given all this, it is perhaps understandable that people are reluctant to take everything that Pele says seriously. Still, does he really need to be depicted as an absolute loon?
4 comments:
Good point. Relevant too.
I suppose the issue here is why footballers bother to talk at all. I have to remind myself sometimes that they're public figures for no other reason than they're good at football.
The ambassador/spokesperson role doesn't sit well on most of their shoulders. Pele is just a high profile example. Maradona is another fruitcake. And let's not forget, a one time anti-drug campaigner...
But the question I was raising is this: we can take all that for granted, but is it right for the BBC (or anyone else) to portray him as a bit loopy with their picture choice?
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