Football, young men, role models and the Premiership

The Premiership is a melting pot of race, colour, religion and culture.
Young men with little worldly skills from different backgrounds are attracted to this honey pot from all around the globe. They all want to be soccer stars, and rich!

When they get there, some actually adapt quickly and soon fit in.

For others, the culture shock is really daunting. There are so many considerations and most of them have nothing to do with football.

For starters, there is the language barrier, the discipline, culture, weather, the press, and strange traditions.

Fortunately the huge sums of money that players earn soon annihilate all the challenges and make them seem palatable.

Club can do more

Some clubs help their players to adjust, and mature but sadly others just assume that they will take things in their stride.

Before clubs pay a fortune for players they check;
heart, lungs, blood, bones, joints etc for defects.

They rarely consider other pertinent factors such as character and morality.
After their acquisition, they also neglect the most important part of their relationship with their employees – training.
Not just footballs skills training but how to exist in the cauldron that is the Premiership.

The football pitch is an arena filled with testosterone, surrounded by baying fans and scrutinised by satellites. The pressure to perform in such a public atmosphere is enormous, even for the most seasoned professional.

It’s not surprising that some players just can’t cope.
The society they came hardly prepared them for life in the Premiership.

Clubs let their players down by not helping them to be respectful, tolerant and egalitarian, despite their upbringing.

Other top football leagues

Premiership   English Football League
Serie A   Italian Football League
Bundesliga   German Football League
Ligue   French Football League
Brasileiro   Brazilian Football League