Blatter's got a point

Just what did FIFA President Sebb Blatter mean when he said John Terry’s alleged affair with an ex-teammate’s ex-girlfriend would have been “applauded” in some Latin countries?

I was shocked to see the John Terry affair was even being covered by the broadsheets. When does a private matter like this become “public interest”? Surely it is nothing more than red top gossip.

And to make matters worse, it has affected his playing career as he was stripped of his England captaincy last week.

In terms of covering the national football team, the English press are like a suffocating swarm of stinging bees.

The over-attention international footballers receive in England means that they are not permitted to live anything other than a perfect life. If they want to avoid scrutiny, these men aren’t allowed be normal men, the reason supposedly being because they are the heroes for millions of children.

But the real reason is because of their nation’s hunger for gossip. Gossip is gospel, or at least when it comes to selling the tabloids.

Though, it is unfair to single out tabloids now seeing as our good, serious broadsheets have succumbed to the power of the Terry Affair.

Blatter, already known for the outlandish comment or two, and certainly not a favourite among Irish fans since sharing a joke with the media about the FAI requesting a replay with France after the “Hand of Henry” incident, has once again made some heads turn and not for the right reasons as usual.

Although this time I must say I agree.

England manager Fabio Capello has blundered this one in style. If Terry no longer “qualifies” for the England captaincy because of this alleged affair, then surely next in line would have to be Liverpool pride and joy, Steven Gerrard, who had his assault charge dropped after all.

Not a chance. Let’s give it instead to Rio Ferdinand; he has fewer games under his belt this year than David Ngog, he had been notably poor for Man Utd before his injury, and to top it all off, he once served an eight-month ban for missing a drugs test. Surely not skipper material.

The criteria for the armband under Capello’s watch must be something like this: be a centre-back, don’t be too stupid, but a little stupidity is ok. Fair enough?
It is true that something like Terry’s affair may have received less negative attention in somewhere like Brazil, where the (not Cristiano) Ronaldo-transvestites affair only received attention because it made football fans fear for the masculinity of their most loved sport, and not for the behaviour of their children’s role models, oddly enough.

He’s on a “recovery” break with his wife in Dubai at the moment, but Terry would have received a real cheer up holiday in Buenos Aires. Even if he put on four stone, developed a cocaine addiction, became manager of the national team and made a balls of it, Argentina would still love him.

As for “Ingerland”, it remains to be seen whether John Terry will ever be held in the same regard again.