Leaving the Lionesses Behind.

During the recent Women’s Euros football final, one of the England players – Chloe Kelly – apparently mocked the Spanish goalkeeper after scoring a penalty against her. That is not the behaviour I expect of somebody representing my country, and it was rightly picked up by the Spanish media.

My core values consist of truth, justice, fair play, and mutual respect. I still hold to the Corinthian ideal, even though big money has long since taken over the professional sporting world and elite sports people have probably never even heard the word ‘Corinthian.’ Winning is the alpha and omega now, and I think something of greater value has largely disappeared from the sum of human endeavour. To me, that’s a major loss.

If I were on social media, I would certainly send a note of complaint to Ms Kelly’s Facebook page. No doubt it would be regarded as ‘abusive’, even though it would be nothing of the kind. (People do so love to pick up these words without giving proper thought to their meaning. ‘Anti-Semitism’, ‘racism’, and ‘misogyny’ are further examples.)

In the meantime, I’m currently well off the ‘Lionesses.’ If they’re going to behave that way I don’t want to know them, and I’m sick to the back teeth of the continued and excessive fawning heaped on them by the BBC and other outlets. I’m fairly sure I’m in a minority of one.