Of Rooney and Rugby
This time last year we published Stan Anderson’s autobiography and in it Stan, the only man to captain Sunderland, Newcastle and Middlesbrough, wrote about how he became the first player to be sent off when wearing an England shirt. It was during an Under-23 international against Bulgaria in 1957 and the contrast with Wayne Rooney’s dismissal against Montenegro last week is worth remarking on.
Rooney, perhaps lucky that the game was not shown on terrestrial TV when his lack of self-discipline would have been there for a much bigger audience to see, kicked out petulantly at an opponent’s calf after failing to control the ball. The referee had no option even though goalkeeper Joe Hart told the Daily Telegraph: ‘I saw it all. It was pretty pathetic. It was supposedly a kick but it was pathetic.’
Perhaps Hart meant that Rooney was pathetic for kicking someone from behind. I doubt it though.
Let Stan Anderson tell why he was dismissed - no red cards in those days - ‘The ball had gone out of play and as I was running to take the throw a Bulgarian player deliberately stepped in front of me and spat at me. Nobody had ever done that to me before and I saw red and punched him. It was a good enough blow and the player went down.’
Later Stan wrote: ‘I couldn’t wait to get home but I knew there would be awkward questions when I did - being sent off in 1957 was a big thing, and being sent off playing for your country was seen as shameful. I even thought about packing in football but fortunately my wife Marjorie and friends persuaded me not to be so daft and while it’s true that I was a qualified plumber I much preferred playing football.
‘I knew my actions were likely to have ended any chances of earning a full cap for some time. What made it so annoying was that I had wanted the chance to explain myself - I hoped that as we made our way through Romania and Czechoslovakia one of the many FA officials would have taken the trouble to speak to me - but not a chance. In fact they hardly glanced in my direction.’
Stan had to wait four years before being called up again; Rooney will be back in the team as soon as possible. Of course he is England’s most important player whereas Stan was just trying to make his way at international level. But I am sure that if Johnny Haynes, equally important to England in 1957 as Rooney is in 2011, had been sent off he would have been ostracised.
Interestingly Rooney’s lack of elementary commonsense on the pitch had echoes in New Zealand in England’s rugby team on and off the pitch. Too many penalties on the pitch; too much lax behaviour off it. How on earth grown men, relatively highly paid athletes representing their country at an international sporting event, can think visiting a bar where one of the ‘entertainments’ is dwarf throwing is reasonable behaviour is beyond me? Then there is the gross sexual baiting of a hotel employee. The culture of what happens on tour stays on tour may once have ruled rugby culture but in these days of 24-hour media it doesn’t stand a chance of happening now. The players should have shown a lot more restraint and the management should have kept them in line. It seems obvious now that Martin Johnson doesn’t rule with the same rod of iron he used on opposition forwards.
We are just about to publish All On Red, the story of Frank Gamble’s ten years working for Liverpool FC. I think it’s fair to say that none of the characters at Anfield between 1979 and 1989, when Frank worked in the Development Association would have put up with Rooney or the rugby players.
