Roonatic!

So the big news this week in the world of football was Wayne ‘Wazza’ Rooney’s impending three-match ban at next year’s European Championships in Poland and Ukraine. Much dialogue has taken place amongst England fans and the media in trying to analyse Rooney’s petulant kick at Montenegro’s Miodrag Dzudovic, and discover why Rooney would do such a thing? Why would the Manchester United ace potentially jeopardise England’s fortunes during the Euro 2012 qualifier and in-turn, hinder the team’s chances during the championships as a whole next summer? So many questions!! 

Quite simply we could never answer all these queries, yet I would like to propose a thought. Perhaps quintessentially this is the makeup of Wayne Rooney for both Manchester United and England, and for the respective fans of both outfits they just have to take the rough with the smooth with such an enigmatic player.

However, the whole episode shows a murky passage in which England has this fixation on pinning their hopes on a particular individual to carry the nation’s entire football fortunes at a big international competition. Some of you may be quizzically wondering where I am going with this? Well let us have a look at the recent past. Currently Rooney is seen as the mainstay for England’s pursuit for honours, but before Rooney it was David Beckham (and his broken metatarsal) holding this position. At times old ‘goldenballs’ was working in tandem with former hotshot Michael Owen for the right to acquire this tenuous spot. Before Beckham and Owen it was Alan Shearer, and for a long spell post World Cup Italia ‘90, it seemed Paul Gascoigne was the key to England footballing success.

A phenomenon I have long thought unnecessary to assign one player the role of keystone of the team, whilst also fully installing a get-out clause if the team does not achieve the desired goal of tournament victory. In this case, if Rooney does not perform well in a competition or did not show up in its staging, here lies the acceptable reason why the team performed woefully. This observable fact is not exclusive to football I may add. If we use rugby union as an example, for many years Johnny Wilkinson held this role for his respective sport, and was still seen as ‘the man’ England hopes rested on going into this year’s Rugby World Cup. Kevin Pietersen holds a similar role for English cricket team, or had done for a spell until other top players have been performing well within the side particularly at test-match level.

I have never really understood why there always seems the need to single out one performer and make them the linchpin when things are going well, or the focus of anger for the lynch mob waiting to place blame onto them when things go awry. I totally recognise that indeed within a collective there are certain individuals that make the team better and very well may make the difference between success and failure. Nevertheless as brilliant as he was, I do not believe the successful French teams of the 1998 World Cup and the European Championships in 2000 respectively, were wholly dependent on Zinedine Zidane. Nor do I believe Brazil’s international successes in the 1990’s and early part of this century was based on the recently retired Ronaldo. Barring Maradonna's heroics of the 1986 World Cup, is it not the team that determines the success?

Greece and their Euro 2004 triumph prove a stark illustration that football is about the team. I cannot recall one starlet in that team who carried his side all the way to glory. Current World and European Champions Spain to my mind are not solely reliant on David Villa, Fernando Torres, Xavi Hernández, Andrés Iniesta, David Silva, Carles Puyol, or Iker Casillas. Perhaps an unfair comparison to make as they are undisputedly the team to beat in international football, but as star names in their own right, the Spanish squad operate as cohesive collective despite their obvious individual talent and make it work on the field where it counts.

Now I am hardly a fan of Gary Neville and often drift away whenever he talks, but the former Manchester United right-back has hit the nail right on the head in his assessment of England and its preparations in international tournaments. When asked about his thoughts on England Neville claims, 

“Going into major tournaments we always put all our pressure and hopes on one man. I've seen it before with Rooney in 2006 and 2010 or David Beckham in 2002. Even before them, it was Kevin Keegan or Bryan Robson in the '70s and '80s. It's as though we think that one world-class player might be able to propel us to a major trophy, and now we're talking about Rooney possibly missing two games of Euro 2012 when what we should be talking about is the spine of a team that has no mobility and can't keep the ball”.

Personally I think Rooney’s ban is a blessing in disguise and should give other players the possibility to show their worth going forward for England. Now with Rooney’s ban and theoretically not featuring at all during the Euro 2012, the tournament’s build-up matches and the championships themselves take on a different guise and the stakes become higher for the players looking to fill-in the Rooney void. Also, the event will not be hyped-up centered on one individual to deliver the goods. Rather, the team will have to focus and come together to function, and execute its tasks if they have any chance of performing well in next summer’s competition.

However, no doubt the media spotlight of Rooney and his ban during Euro 2012 will cast a heavy shadow over the team to an almost frenzied circus on how Fabio Capello is utilizing him during training. Expect random camera shots of Rooney sitting in the stands during the games that he is suspend for, and constant scrutiny if or where the Liverpudlian will start should England negotiate the group phase. Oh it is all too predictable!

To conclude however, I must say UEFA’s three-game ban on Rooney is terribly harsh. A three-game suspension for what he did seems grossly over the top, and cannot help but think all this does not meet the eye in this situation. Now I am not one to brand nationality as a reason for decisions made, and some may call me a cynic for what I am about to say, but I very much doubt had this been another player from a different part of Europe who performed this act that they would not be receiving this same penalty.

Past examples of star names in a similar situation have shown UEFA to take a different course of action. Russia’s Andrei Arshavin acted out a near mirror image of what Rooney did in Montenegro, and got himself sent off in the last game during qualifying for the 2008 European Championships in an away fixture against Andorra. Strangely in comparison the Russian received a two-game ban for the start of the 2008 tournament, which I feel would have been the sufficient punishment for Rooney’s transgression. Especially as the England striker did not go launching into the opposing player, or perform a career-threatening tackle to the aggrieved. One has to wonder what Michel Platini and his motley crew would have handed out as punishment if Rooney loaded up with a running clothesline or elbow that you might see in the octagon circle of an Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) ring. I think something untoward is afoot in the halls of UEFA on this one folks.