And no, old, tired stereotypes won’t help us deal with its crisis
Eleven years ago to the day a man retired after working continuously at the same organisation for twenty-six years. In the process he won a clutch of awards, earned the respect of millions and put said organisation centre-stage at world level.
Eleven years ago to the day a man retired after working continuously at the same organisation for twenty-six years. In the process he abused people verbally, ignored rules and even assaulted members of his team physically.
You’re not seeing double and no, I’m not going crazy. But forgive me if at the time I failed to be moved by the sycophantic tributes that flew in Alex Ferguson’s (“Sir” Alex Ferguson, my God, how could I forget?) direction when he announced he was stepping down as the manager of Manchester United Football Club.
A word of caution first, though. This is not a “disgruntled Chelsea fan from SW6” type of post. I am the first one to recognise that in a world as fickle and unpredictable as the world of football is, a head coach who lasted at a club for more than a quarter of a century was a feat. In fact, I don’t think that Alex’s tenure as United manager will be equalled, let alone surpassed any time soon. But it’s not his stature as a sports tactician I am questioning but the example he set up as a man.
As Laurie Penny said around the same time à propos of Diane Abbot‘s speech to the thinktank Demos, there was a crisis of masculinity in the UK back then. There is still one now. Young men feel ignored and frustrated and tend to lash out as a consequence. There are many reasons for this state of affairs: unemployment, lack of prospects, confusion about the role of men in society. The list goes on. And yet in the midst of this crisis eleven years ago we chose to celebrate a man who had been known for flying off the handle at players (both his and others’) and referees. If there was a football manager that typified male aggression and bullying, Sir Alex Ferguson was that person.
I’m not making a scapegoat of “Fergie”. But I found it ironic that broadsheet papers that regularly carried reports on how domestic violence had increased, the many rape centres that had been closed and the effect that certain pop lyrics had on early sexualisation amongst teenagers and children, chose to bend over backwards to a man who didn’t have any second thoughts about throwing a boot at one of his players. Said player ended up with stitches on his eyebrow. You can still acknowledge how good the man was as a football manager, but there’s no need for special Sunday supplements.
As luck would have it, a week after Sir Alex retired, David Beckham, one of Manchester United’s former stars, also decided to hang his boots. Having played for the Red Devils, Real Madrid, LA Galaxy and Paris St-Germain, Beckham was living proof of how modern football had welcomed globalisation with open arms, and deep pockets. There was another side, though, to the Beckham character.
The key word to understanding this other side is the term “ambassador”. He was an ambassador during London’s bid to host the Olympics. He was an ambassador during the games and he carried on being an ambassador thereafter. You don’t become a high-ranked spokesman of British sport by being boorish. What set Beckham apart from the Fergies of this world was his sportsmanship on and off the field.
Brand “Beckham” was the yin to Ferguson’s yang. Whilst David never had many difficulties in showing his more delicate side (remember that sarong?), Ferguson stopped having post-matches interviews with the BBC after the latter made a series of allegations about Alex’s son, Jason, a football agent, in a documentary in 2004. To put this into context, a broadcaster supposedly had to ask permission from Sir Alex first before doing its duty.
Beckham symbolised at some point the early noughties’ new masculinity, comfortable in its femininity. On the other hand Ferguson, typifying old-fashioned male chauvinism, attributed this attitude to David’s marriage to Posh Spice and his joining the celebrity world. Beckham was soon off-loaded to Real Madrid.
We could carry on like this forever but the problem as I saw it eleven years ago and as I see it today is that there is still too much machismo around. Sir Alan Sugar (the boss in the television programme The Apprentice) expects contestants to kowtow to him, and if they don’t, he will point his finger at them (which is rather rude, by the way) and tell them that “You’re fired”.
No wonder men are confused. Between women’s achievements such as the pill, abortion rights and a more inclusive job market and the eradication of the idea of men as sole bread-winners, it is easy to see why the so-called “stronger sex” is a bit wobbly at the knees. And yet, this contrasts with what we see on our television sets and what we read about in the papers.
Years ago David Haye, former heavyweight champion, got into a famous brawl with his fellow British boxer Dereck Chisora after the latter lost to Vitali Klitschko. The ugly scenes were captured on live telly. However, months later Haye was allowed to get into the ring to fight Dereck Chisora in a match that resembled more two deer rutting. Meanwhile our boys were watching… and learning.
If we are to address this “crisis of masculinity”, the first course of action would have to be to see masculinity as a wide-ranging concept and not defined by phallus size, number of female partners or performance in bed. Alcohol/drug misuse and poor sexual education would have to be reclassified as high priority. Father-friendly parenting classes would have to become part of the long-term vision. Full front-pages dedicated to boot-throwing managers would be relegated to the back pages. And under no circumstances would these managers appear in special Sunday supplements.
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