Emdad RahmanIt might be hard to believe, but I think the bods at the F.A could invest a thin slice of their huge revenue on public relations for their staff. This is the picture that landed me in a little hot water and puts the role of the modern day footballer into perfect perspective for me.
I write to highlight a couple of incidents I experienced on the eve of the FA cup Final 2010.
During my first ever visit to Wembley, I was part of a team of volunteers that gave up paid work to support a magnanimous British showpiece event. I volunteered my time to lay Chelsea, Portsmouth and neutral flags on the seats at Wembley ahead of the much anticipated final.
With countries all over the world watching the FA Cup Final, we made a significant contribution towards making the 2010 FA Cup final a truly global spectacle - A match watched live by 88,335 attendees.
It was not long before my excitement and general vigour was shattered by the atrocious conduct of a jobsworth from the F.A.
The incident I refer to happened a few minutes after the Portsmouth goalkeepers had taken to the pitch and were being put through their paces by the goalkeeping coach. We were short of flags in the stand and recognising David James, we stopped to admire him training on the Wembley turf. My friend and I excitedly took out our cameras and took pictures. We were to David James’ left and a fair distance away. We also had our flashes off.
At this point a jobsworth sauntered up towards us and with a horrid pitch she screamed; "Oi, what the hell do you think you're doing."
Being a rather sensitive soul I was rather taken aback by such discourtesy. Her contorted voice, tone and rising voice sought to exert her control in a rather strange and freakily forceful manner.
"We were taking pictures," I interjected politely.
Now she turned on me; "We are lucky to be given permission to remain here while the teams train,” - she was referring to the footballers training. I asked if that was the case why this wasn’t a closed stadium event for the poor overpaid lambs.
"Well we didn't know,” I replied and politely asked her to refrain talking to us in such a callous manner.
"I'll talk to you how I want," she responded. The sad aspect in all this was that she could not see the effect her tyrannical outburst was having on our group.
Visibly upset I requested; “I do not like to be talked to like a street urchin,” and reminded her that we were goodwill volunteers, and above all huge football fans.
The heavens opened after I got her name, and I was then threatened with eviction - I said flatly that I was unappreciative of being treated like a second class citizen and I refused point blank to be addressed in such a degenerative manner.
In my own time, I work voluntarily and extensively with young people. The conduct of the brass from the F.A would have made many an unruly teenager from an inner city estate blush. I reminded this person that I was here through goodwill alone and reminded her that it cost no money to be polite, and reminded her that I would challenge such spoilt diva behaviour even if Mr Capello himself had spoken to me in such a way.
Our group lead took responsibility for not telling us to refrain from pitch side pics, but I still am adamant that this was no fault of his. How was he supposed to brief us if he didn’t know of such arrangement beforehand?
At no point until then had we been told that we could not take pictures. I also understood that the training session was a first and I point towards the following BBC report for reference.
The article quotes: “Following complaints from the managers involved in the FA Cup semi-finals, the pitch was relaid in April for the 10th time since the £750m stadium was completed in 2007.
“After those games, which saw players continually lose their footing, the FA held a planning meeting with the Blues and Pompey, during which they were told they would be the first finalists to be given permission to train at the stadium on the eve of the final.”
Frankly, it was shocking and abhorrent behaviour. At no point did I raise my voice or be rude. I did tell her a few home truths, particularly about not losing perspective and remembering that the average football fan (like myself) are what makes brand England, brand FA Cup, and brand Premier League the juggernaut that it is now.
It was minutes before she was true to her word and sent out a security guard whose presence reminded me that I was a threat (I had cleared security unanimously that morning).
An hour later as I took a minutes breather and admired the Chelsea team from Row Z, training on the hallowed Wembley turf this same guard screamed at me and gestured me to push off. His maniacal bawl was not befitting either and I stood there pitying his Neanderthal like gestures – I was not allowed to watch the players now – another low point.
The contorted facial features, aggressive nature and tone were nothing short of a disgrace. She from the F.A is a bully, and I am totally delighted that I stood up to her, even though I felt so angry for a long time afterwards. If I never return to Wembley again I will not regret the stand I took.
For me this lady is indicative and sums up how far removed the ruling body have become from the people who are the backbone of the FA’s success and worldwide appeal.
I’m flabbergasted that the FA, an established international body of worldwide repute, does not brief/train their personnel in public relations, manners and courtesy. My fellow group members (pictured) felt pretty much deflated and the majority expressed solidarity, especially after all the hard work put in. The organisers even got their layout muddled so we the volunteers had to remove and relay thousands of flags, all without any fuss nor a hint of a complaint.
Joe Bloggs fans are the backbone of football and there is a growing feeling that footballers are now “out of reach” entities. Once upon a time, before the days of £100.000 salaries and prawn sandwiches, footballers lived on the same streets, travelled on the same transport, ate and drank in the same establishments and even worked the same shift in their second jobs.
Times have changed, but this lady’s table manners lead me to interpret that we are not far off from being forced out of the game, and being reduced to watching footballing spectacles and stars from the comfort of our living rooms only. After all look at the perspective - taking pitch side snaps at thirty yards of England legend David James can get you into hotter water than a playground pervert.
Despite all this, David James did not complain, feign discomfort or express his displeasure at any time.
As a reminder to ourselves I have highlighted exactly what a volunteer is:
Volunteering is the practice of people working on behalf of others or a particular cause without payment for their time and services – Wikipedia
Dictionary definition - Volunteer:
To offer (oneself or one's services) for an undertaking by choice and without request or obligation.
The bottom line is I, like many of my companions are huge football fans. We were unpaid volunteers and I was treated disgracefully by an FA rep.
I am astounded that despite the Lord Teriesman affair, such bods can be part of an organisation that is hoping to bring the world cup “home” in 2018.
I plan to raise this with our new Sports Minister. If my feedback prevents another such episode it'll all be worth it.
Lastly, I would like to assure all readers and concerned parties that no footballers were exploited or harmed during the drafting of this article.
