The Sports Buff ⚽️ ⚾️ 🏈

When one thinks of a football player, the usual stereotypes are that they can be self-oriented and almost live life carefree. When players like Marcus Rashford and Jadon Sancho have been spotted at nightclubs before games or after, it can lead to footballers getting a bad rep.

For the sake of fairness, I must state that the apparent instances of Marcus Rashford being unprofessional in Manchester don’t seem to be prevalent in Barcelona.

In this article, I want to talk about the times when footballers and managers, in this case, won the hearts of people by their selfless actions. Dick Advocat the former Holland and Rangers managers is the most recent example.

The veteran coach has resigned as manager of Curacao after guiding the minnows to their maiden World Cup, which will be held later this year. You might be thinking (I sure did) that there were boardroom issues, or other issues with the Curacao FA.

That isn’t the case. Advocat is leaving his role to take care of his unwell daughter. This is just like what Luis Enrique did. His young daughter was battling cancer, I believe, and the former Barcelona coach took a year out of the game to be with her.

Sadly, she lost her battle of life and sadly passed away, but it’s clear when seeing Enrique, her memory lives on. Two examples of absolute gentlemen. Another example, and maybe one of the most famous examples, is that of arguably the greatest ever manager in Great Britain, Sir Alex Ferguson.

The legendary Man United boss, Sir Alex, who managed Man United for 27 years, where he won everything to be won at club level, retired all of a sudden in 2013. The reason wasn’t clear initially from my knowledge, but it emerged that the Manchester United legend was leaving his role in the dugout to spend time with his wife Cathy.

There is no doubt more examples, but I want to point out a few players who took time away from the beautiful game to be with their loved ones. One example is that of Cristiano Ronaldo, CR7. The Portuguese captain took some time away when his twins were born.

Sadly, one didn’t make it, but the compassion Ronaldo showed for his family is refreshing, especially since football players get a lot of flak for this reason. The last example I can think of is that of ex-Manchester City captain and club legend David Silva.

The City player, in the 2017-18 season, missed several matches to care for his son Matteo. Footballers can be good guys too, well, sometimes.