The Appeal of Hating a Great Footballer

By: Rob | November 7th, 2009

Albert Camus, the philosopher, author and football fanatic, was once asked that if he had to choose between football and the theatre, which he would choose. He replied “Football, without hesitation.”

And it’s little surprise, football has everything theatre has, and more. It has a story, but is unwritten. It has all the characters, the protagonists, and antagonists. It has the good guys, and the bad guys.

Footballers have to take some kind of role. Some players are loved – regardless of the club they play for. Think of Maldini, of Pele, or of Messi. People like them.

Very few of the great players take the role of the pantomime villain. Diego Maradona is the most obvious one, and Cristiano Ronaldo has joined him on that list. What is the appeal of the bad boy we love to hate?

Ronaldo, he understands football, and how it works. People go on about how much they hate Ronaldo, his preening, his diving, his whinging, his ridiculous tan. There is plenty there to hate. But undoubtedly he’s playing up to it in some regard.

He knows, that we all think he actually is a brilliant player. Some of us might find him incredibly annoying, but judging by our Top 100 Player of the Decade Poll, we do still think he’s magnificent.

In fact, he ranks higher than Messi. Just like Maradona ranks above players like Bobby Charlton or Johan Cruyff in lists of players of all time, we all know he’s actually rather tasty.

I think, that football and theatre are exactly the same. Camus’ descion was actually really easy. Just like the pantomime bad guy that we boo at the theatre, or the bad guy in a film, we enjoy hating them. Its just a pity more of the great players don’t play that game.

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Dan

I think a lot of the antipathy towards players like Ronaldo can be chalked up to the commercial intrusion on the game that their celebrity status creates.

From the point of view of the people who hope to make money off of these players, simply appreciating skills isn't enough; you need to consume the whole package, which means buy the nike shoes and the Manchester United, wait, Real Madrid shirts, and so on.

We'll see the same thing with the Brazil national team when the world cup gets closer.

I think it's natural to have a backlash.
Luka

People hate Ronaldo because he gives us reasons to hate him! Who can sit here and say they hate players like Messie or Xavi, or Ronaldinho at any point before 2006? Unlike local rivalries, where the hate comes from absolutely nowhere, the world is in unison when it comes to their hatred of the skinny Ronaldo.
MoMONEY

Sure but I think with Ronaldo people hate the stuff he does on the pitch- Maradona was all off the pitch stuff. And with Ronaldo his style isnt that appealing to many. Run fast and shoot hard- he hardly ever plays a good ball to a teammate or pulls a magical move to free up the goal for someone else. He just runs hard shoots hard and jumps high. Good player yes but I think he is overrated on so so many levels.

I know I have said this before but think of it this way. Is Ronaldo seen as good is John Terry makes that pk? I think the answer is No and that he would be seen as selfish and a choker- like he was until that final. Remember he missed the penalty before Terry as well...
Rob

Yeah, alessio, i'm with you on that one as well, I can't imagine a world without the local rival to hate!
Adam

Great post. I hated his persona even when he played for my team, but, for me, his skill and physicality make him the best in the world right now.
laurie

I just had a discussion on a similar topic with both Chris and Daryl on whether or not Zidane would have been number 1 in your "top players of the decade" poll if not for the anger in him that culminated with the headbutt. Daryl says yes. I say probably. But I don't think there's much question that his amazing skill combined with his volatitility made him even more memorable than he would have been as a plain vanilla but really good player.

Interesting vid that kind of catches the split personality. In French, but you can get the gist from the video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...
Francesco

It's true, you may hate a player for his personality and overall character, but when you're good, you're good.
andersen

wow, great post. You executed the theme well.