The Rules of Gentlemanly Conduct

We now know that John Terry is not a racist after he was acquitted of racial abuse charges, by Westminster Crown Court yesterday. However, this doesn’t change the fact that he may well have used offensive language, nor does it alter the fact that such language now seems to be accepted as a normal part of the world of football. 

If you ask most football commentators and experts they will tell you that what is known as “industrial language,” that is a constant and regular stream of expletives, is a recognised part of the culture of professional football. If you were to record what players say to each other during a match, and not just afterwards, you would be shocked by the things that you would hear. Yet this is apparently considered not at all odd or unusual. It was only when the issue of another’s players race was bought up that things got awkward for Mr Terry.

But should this be the case?

Footballers are in the public eye. They have whole sections of the news media devoted to them each and every day. Many thousands of people look up to them as heroes and idols. Children and young people look to them as examples of how to live their lives. If this is the case surely they should not only manage their personal lives better – though that is a grumble for another day – but should also be careful to moderate their language, both on and off the field?

However this failure to engage in what might be called “gentlemanly conduct” is not only a failure of the world of football, but also of politicians at Westminster, another group of people who should know better and act more appropriately. I’m not just talking about MPs getting drunk and attempting to head-butt each other – though one MP tried this recently– but the behaviour of certain senior politicians when things don’t go their way.

Supposedly after the Tory backbench rebellion over Lords’ reform this week, the Prime Minister caught up with Jesse Norman, the MP for Hereford and South Herefordshire and the rebels’ ringleader, in the division lobby and according to eye witnesses, things got rather heated, with the PM accusing Mr Norman of acting dishonourably. Now if you ask me, an MP who has voted according to his principles and conscience and party loyalty be dammed has acted much more honourably than an MP who has simply blindly toed the party line.  It was then suggested by Tory whips that it might be better for Mr Norman to leave the Parliamentary estate. Though the reasons why differ, the general suggestion is that other Tory MPs might be out to get him and he would do better to stay out of their way until they had managed to calm down.

The media and the electorate don’t seem to have much respect for politicians at the moment, and behaviour like this is one of the reasons why. Because MPs have been entrusted by the electorate with the serious responsibility of managing the affairs of state we hold them to a much higher standard of conduct than ordinary members of the public and we expect them to hold themselves to this standard as well. Instead we find them acting like over excited school boys.

If footballers and politicians want our respect and admiration then they must earn it, by acting in an appropriate fashion, rather than simply assuming it will come automatically with their jobs.