Because idols can’t err. Or can they? - Hindustan Times
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Because idols can’t err. Or can they?

Hindustan Times | By
Dec 15, 2018 05:45 PM IST

SPINOFF: It’s not fair to expect elite athletes to be role models in terms of personal conduct, writes Soumya Bhattacharya

Towards the end of last week, Britain’s The Sun published footage of Arsenal Football Club players apparently inhaling nitrous oxide on a night out which also included drinking champagne and vodka. Nitrous oxide, also known as laughing gas, is used in medical treatment. As a recreational substance, it is said to be a relaxant and induces a sense of well being.

The fame of successful sportspersons such as Cristiano Ronaldo blind their followers in to believing that their icons can’t do any wrong.(Getty Images)
The fame of successful sportspersons such as Cristiano Ronaldo blind their followers in to believing that their icons can’t do any wrong.(Getty Images)

The self righteous tone of The Sun found favour among a section of the football establishment and fans. Players should be seen to be responsible. They are role models for young people across the world. This is no way to behave. The Football Association, the game’s governing body, did not sanction the players. Taking note of the criticism, the club said it would speak to the footballers and remind them of their responsibilities.

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The footballers in question were affluent young men on a night out. They were partying before the ongoing season started. They were breaking no rules. Why should we demand that an elite athlete conduct himself in his personal life in a way different from other young people? It is not as if impressionable youngsters will discover champagne, vodka or recreational substances after watching the footage in question. You only need to be around a pub late on a Friday night in some of the rougher parts of London to realise that young people can do that sort of thing pretty well by themselves. They need no inspiration from star footballers, thank you.

Why should we expect elite athletes to be role models in terms of personal conduct? Why must we see them as exemplars of good deportment and behaviour off the pitch? World famous writers and scientists, for instance, are not expected to be so.

Sporting greats are supremely talented, obscenely wealthy, young men and women, who can do in their chosen sport what ordinary mortals can barely imagine. They can bring us joy of a kind nothing else can. As long as they continue to enthrall us on the pitch, that should be the end of the matter.

But it is not. Because we expect elite athletes to be role models, we idolise them, not merely as sporting heroes, but as human beings. This is where it begins to get in to dark territory. We conflate their personal and professional lives and view both through the same prism; we refuse to countenance any flaw in them; and we dismiss as rubbish personal allegations against them.

Lionel Messi has evaded tax? Can’t be, there must be a mistake somewhere. A legendary Indian cricketer’s family life is not as perfect a picture as is painted? Perish the thought. One of the planet’s finest footballers accused of rape and sexual assault? Not possible because he is a true champion.

Which brings us to the potentially explosive case of Cristiano Ronaldo.

Ronaldo stands accused of sexual assault and rape. The complainant, Kathryn Mayorga, 34, is an American teacher. The alleged incident occurred in 2009 in a Las Vegas penthouse. Ronaldo denies the accusation.

Mayorga, who received a pay-off, was silent for all these years. But now she has come forward with her account of what happened that night at the Palms Casino Resort. The case has been reopened. Mayorga has said that the scale of Ronaldo’s celebrity, the white heat of fame and adulation and power that emanates from him, scared her of the backlash she might face if she went public.

She was right. Ever since the story broke, Mayorga has been hounded, abused and vilified by Ronaldo’s enormous global following. Scarred by the hostility, her lawyers have said, she has pretty much gone in to hiding. The footballer’s fans refuse to believe that, because he is a great footballer, he can ever be capable of sexual – indeed, any other – misconduct. Ronaldo’s current club, Juventus, has defended its star.

“Cristiano Ronaldo has shown in recent months his great professionalism and dedication, which is appreciated by everyone at Juventus. The events allegedly dating back to almost 10 years ago do not change this opinion, which is shared by anyone who has come into contact with this great champion.”

Ronaldo is indeed a great champion. But sporting greatness does not automatically translate in to unimpeachable standards of personal conduct. Millions of Ronaldo fans assume so because, conflating the two different spheres of life, they see their hero as flawless both on and off the pitch.

This is the perilous thing about idolising elite athletes. We should not expect them to be role models. We need not pounce on them for perceived minor misdemeanours. Nor should we be blind to the fact that they may be capable of grievous misconduct.

In their personal lives, sporting stars may be kind, generous, wicked, or mean. Like the rest of us, they are fallible and flawed. They are human. We should see them as nothing more, and nothing less, than that.
—Spinoff appears every fortnight

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  • ABOUT THE AUTHOR
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    Soumya Bhattacharya is the editor of Hindustan Times, Mumbai. He is the author of five books of fiction, non-fiction and memoir.

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