Calacus Weekly Hit & Miss – Dani Alves & Cricketer Messages
Every week we look at the best and worst communicators in the sports world from the previous week.
HIT - DANI ALVES
Playing football with your feet is one thing but playing it with your heart is another.
Many professional footballers proclaim to love the club that pays their wages, yet that loyalty is largely superficial.
Gone are the days of one-club men such as Paolo Maldini, Carles Puyol and Steven Gerrard – inflated transfer fees and money spinning offers from the MLS and the Chinese Super League have put paid to that. The reality is that in the modern era, loyalty is not commonplace in the beautiful game.
In recent years, we have seen that cash is king in professional football.
Only seven months ago, 12 of Europe’s elite clubs, including six from the Premier League, signed up for the ill-fated European Super League project.
Fans, players, and the wider football community were emphatically unified in their opposition to a closed shop competition, that would see the breakaway clubs receive automatic qualification, “increased financial support”, and a ‘welcome bonus’ funded by JP Morgan Chase worth €200m-€300m.
Bucking the trend last week is Brazilian defender Dani Alves, who has returned to FC Barcelona five years after he left the Catalonian club.
The Brazilian international has returned to the Blaugrana after previously playing for the club from 2008-2016, where he made 391 official appearances and won 23 trophies.
Barca are experiencing its biggest crisis in years, with star player Lionel Messi departing for Paris St Germain due to La Liga salary caps preventing the club from extending his contract; coach Ronald Koeman was fired and the team has struggled in the Champions League. (LINKS)
What makes the move all the more interesting, however, is that the veteran full-back has rejected big money offers to return to Barcelona on the cheap.
Despite being the most decorated player of all time, having amassed a staggering 43 major honours over the course of his glittering career, reports have suggested that Alves has signed off to return on a paltry €1 a month contract until June 2022, given the parlous nature of Barca’s finances which prohibits them from paying big salaries.
Speaking at his presentation at Camp Nou, the 38-year-old said: “It’s a dream! I didn't care how, I wanted to be at Barça. For free if necessary, whatever. My goal is to bring joy and enthusiasm. Xavi's mission, my mission. We have to get back together and transform the club again. Barça is more than a club.
“I was very tough with the President and insisted that I wanted to come back. This club has given me everything I have.
“When you want something, you achieve it and it doesn't matter how much you earn, your salary...I need to support my family, the people I look after, but it wasn't the time to think about that, only about helping Barcelona. Everything else is secondary when you get a call from Barcelona.
“We are willing to do anything to see Barcelona at the top of the table, winning trophies...”
Despite his love of the club, his age, and reduced salary packet, the Barça legend insisted he was not coming back to go through the motions: “I wasn't born to be second, I was always first. I'm here to fight, I'm not here to pass time or to live in Barcelona, I've come here to play and fight for a place. It's not because I made history or because of my good relationship with Xavi.
“With my work I'm going to fight and try to contribute. Age is just a number. I just proved it at the Olympics. People will expect the best from me and I will respond as always."
Barcelona president Joan Laporta has revealed that newly appointed manager Xavi was highly influential in convincing the club to sanction the return of his former teammate.
Laporta said of the reunion: “I told Xavi that Dani was available and wanted to help. [He] told me Dani is one of those people you always need in your team."
Ahead of the club’s 1-0 victory against city rivals Espanyol, newly appointed manager, Xavi, said: “I know Dani Alves really well and Dani is going to help us a lot in all aspects. I know him really well, he’s a winner, he’s so positive, he has a great character. Also on the pitch, we’ve seen his last games, he’s in great shape physically and the medical tests confirm it. So yeah, he’s going to help us a lot. He’s an outstanding player, one of the best ones. With his experience, his winning character, and his mentality I have no doubts at all. It’s just a shame he won’t be able to play until January.”
By re-joining the club he loves and playing effectively for free, instead of enjoying a lucrative swansong in a far-flung nation, Dani Alves is cementing his legacy as one of few contemporary footballers to play solely for the love of the game, and truly fall in love with a club after their own heart.
Similarly, Alves’ return to Barcelona indicates that maybe, just maybe, it is not the end for loyalty and true love in modern football just yet.
MISS – HISTORIC CRICKETER MESSAGES
Can any of us say that we have not said something or messaged someone something we would rather not be shared for wider public consumption?
Certainly, since the advent of smartphones and digital cameras, nothing is truly private anymore.
But that doesn’t mean that offensive, discriminatory or lewd content is acceptable at any time, as the world of cricket has found out so often over recent days.
We’ve spoken about Yorkshire CCC’s poor handling of the racism that has rocked the game in England and drawn in a number of players and administrators in the county and beyond.
And discussing his experience of institutional racism during a parliamentary DCMS committee hearing, Azeem Rafiq was understandably heralded for his campaigning.
Former England batsman Mark Ramprakash told the BBC: “Rafiq has been at pains to says this is trying to shine a light on the situations that exist around the country, not just at Yorkshire.
“It is not to have witch-hunts against certain individuals. It's to try and help things and for his testimony to be a catalyst for positive change.
“The noises the ECB are making are very positive and this is about drawing a line and saying 'this is terrible and we don't want this happening again'.”
But two days later, his credibility took a battering when it was revealed that he too had been guilty of inappropriate behaviour, making anti-Semitic remarks in an exchange with former Warwickshire and Leicestershire player Ateeq Javid.
Historical messages with Javid were revealed when the then 19-year-old Rafiq accused a third player of being reluctant to spend money at a team dinner because “he is a Jew.”
He added the player would “probs go after my 2nds [second helping of food] again ha,” adding: “Only Jews do tht [sic] sort of shit.”
To his credit, Rafiq owned his error and apologised for it without delay.
Posting on Twitter, he said: “I was sent an image of this exchange from early 2011 today. I have gone back to check my account and it is me – I have absolutely no excuses.
“At no point will I ever try and defend the indefensible For those I have hurt I am sincerely sorry I will continue to front up & own any more mistakes I have made.”
In an interview with the Jewish Chronicle, he added: “The circumstances do differ. I don't think I've ever played with anyone Jewish, so it was not exactly the same. But I don't want to play it down. I've hurt people. My genuine feeling is that I deserve the flak. I f***ed up.”
Australia has also been rocked after Tim Paine resigned as Test cricket captain on the eve of the Ashes series.
It was revealed that Cricket Australia (CA) conducted an internal investigation in mid-2018 when they first became aware that Paine had sent sexually explicit texts to a female colleague.
The investigation concluded that Paine had not breached CA’s code of conduct and could continue as captain, before it became clear that the messages were going to be exposed, throwing the Aussie Ashes defence into disarray.
Cricket Tasmania said its former employee, who Paine had messaged, only mentioned the texts when she was charged with theft.
Its Chairman, Andrew Gaggin, said in a statement that the investigation had found Paine's “interaction” with the woman to be “consensual, private, occurred on the one occasion only, was between mature adults and was not repeated.”
CA accepted Paine’s resignation and the former captain explained why his position had become untenable: “Nearly four years ago, I was involved in a text exchange with a then-colleague.
“At the time, the exchange was the subject of a thorough CA Integrity Unit investigation, throughout which I fully participated in and openly participated in.
“That investigation and a Cricket Tasmania HR investigation at the same time found that there had been no breach of the Cricket Australia Code of Conduct.
“Although exonerated, I deeply regretted this incident at the time, and still do today. I spoke to my wife and family at the time and am enormously grateful for their forgiveness and support.
“We thought this incident was behind us and that I could focus entirely on the team, as I have done for the last three or four years. However, I recently became aware that this private text exchange was going to become public.
“On reflection, my actions in 2017 do not meet the standard of an Australian cricket captain, or the wider community. I’m deeply sorry for the hurt and pain that I have caused to my wife, my family, and to the other party.
“I’m sorry for any damage that this does to the reputation of our sport. And I believe that it is the right decision for me to stand down as captain, effective immediately. I do not want this to become an unwelcome disruption to the team ahead of what is a huge Ashes series.”
After taking over from the banned Smith in March 2018, Paine said Australia must improve their “behaviour” and promised to instil a “new culture.” Those look like hollow words now.
In both instances, apologies were swift and heartfelt.
But, whether one is a high-profile cricketer or not, racism, prejudice or impropriety can have wider implications than just personal embarrassment.
It could be argued that Rafiq’s posts have undermined what, until they were revealed, was universal support and sympathy that gave real momentum to the fight against racism.
Paine may find himself out of the Australian Test team, and while in all likelihood the Aussies will still give a great account of themselves in the forthcoming Ashes, it’s the latest in a catalogue of embarrassing episodes which serves as another reminder that athletes need to be mindful of the great responsibility that comes with their professional sports status.