Footballers have done really stupid things in past, but thought it was time to change that, states Mark Noble
West Ham captain Mark Noble has admitted that despite footballers having done stupid things in the past, this lockdown situation allowed them to help showcase their personalities and values. The Hammers star also added that the players had created #PlayersTogether well before anyone realised.
Over the last few months the Premier League, more than other leagues, has seen a fair share of players and coaches break lockdown rules to do various activities. It saw a target form on football’s back with many members of Parliament and various others all criticize and judge just how much players earn among other things. That caused a rift between the players and the rest of the world but things have slowly changed.
Despite a few issues with players breaking lockdown and safe-distancing rules across Europe, the players in England have formed a group which has seen them raise money for charities. That includes a combined charity by all the Premier League captains for the NHS and Mark Noble admitted that it was partly to show the “personalities and values” that players have. Noble also added that everyone makes mistakes and while footballers have done “really stupid things over the years” and they are looking to change that.Â
“Footballers are wealthy young athletes who entertain not just the country, but the world, and anything they do wrong — and no one in the world’s a robot, everyone makes mistakes — we get scrutinised massively for that. Footballers over the years have done really stupid things but I thought this was a time, especially with what we are going through in the world, to show the real personalities and values that football players have,” Noble told the Times.
“Most players know what life’s really like. It’s not driving nice cars and living in nice houses. The players have worked hard to get themselves out of that but never forget what it was like to grow up on a council estate or move council houses six or seven times like I did. So then to play for, and captain, your boyhood club is pretty special.”
Footballers across England and the Premier League have come under immense criticism for being overpaid athletes that refused to take pay-cuts after the PFA and the league failed to come to an agreement. However, while a league wide cut was never taken, clubs within the top tier have come to an agreement with their own players. It saw Noble admit that the Premier League captains had already started figuring out how to help out before any accusations were thrown at them.
“From the moment Covid-19 first came around, the Premier League captains set up a WhatsApp group and started figuring out how we could help and then that situation with Matt Hancock on TV got chucked at us. It came as a shock to us. We’d already set up #PlayersTogether. We were already talking about helping. We know we’re in a privileged situation but we pay I think almost £4 billion in tax every year towards the government," he added.