The media treatment of Raheem Sterling

Do you think this reporting is fine? And do you think the coverage would be exactly the same if it were Harry Kane or Adam Lallana?

 

He just happens to have a talent for playing football and earning gazillions . And I hope he scores the winner in the World Cup final ( bit of a stretch like) . Don’t tell me how tough he’s had it because it just isn’t true , he was always going to be a high earning footballer from an early age . And no I don’t think he should ink any part of his body with images that play up to the gangster image that seems to be prevalent with young black men .

 

Harry Kane and lallana being white men i suppose ? Leave it there mate and don’t put something there that isn’t !

 

You make it sound like he was born a professional footballer.

He lost his dad aged 2, emigrated to an area of London (Wembley, not Kensington or Knightsbridge) aged 5... hardly the greatest start in life.

He's where he is because he has worked hard to get there. He may have some natural talent but look at the likes of Ravel Morrison and Michael Johnson- both threw it away to certain degrees.

 

Yes, that's exactly my question. I'm not trying to be clever or catch you out. Do you think the press would cover stories about white football players the way they do stories about Raheem Sterling?

 

I don’t know if it’s because he’s black or whether that’s irrelevant but there’s been a clear targeted attempt by certain newspapers (sun / star) to go after Sterling for a number of years now.

It’s disgusting & ought to stop now.

If you’re just looking at this incident alone then you might think the press have a point but it’s not an isolated incident it’s been borderline harassment for a number of years.

He’s an excellent role model for young people, he could’ve lived off of hard luck stories because of his Dad dying when he was so young & turned to a life of crime or wasted his talent, instead he’s given everything to make it to the top.

Come from a rough area of London to winning league titles & representing England in his early 20’s. Good luck to him

 

It isn't skin colour, its class. Rooney is white and got similar scrutiny.

 

Never was he scrutinised for simply eating food on an off day. They’ve gone to new levels with Raheem.

 

I don't think it's a race issue per se but it is crazy how much they have hammered him. I agree more likely to be a class thing.

I think if Rooney was starting out again it'd just be as fierce.

I'm not sure why- maybe something to do with lower physical sales of papers these days and greater need for a story??

 

It might well be, you’re probably right.

Was Beckham from a middle class background? I always found it funny how him & Ashley Cole basically did the same things, make transfers for financial reasons & cheat on their pop star wife yet Cole was made out to be the biggest scum bag on earth where as the press couldn’t wait to defend Beckham talking about how Posh would leave him alone in Madrid.

 

As did John Terry for the Wayne Bridge situation, Gazza still to this day for his alcohol addiction and many others.

 

They have to pick someone Beckham supposedly having an affair, Rooney and a granny etc. Looks like its Sterling's turn this time.

 

The treatment of Sterling has been going on for a while and is far above what happened to Rooney and Beckham. Why isn't it happening to Harry Kane?

 

The gutter press aren't called that for no reason. They're read primarily by people who struggle to deal with multi facetted issues and who want their own prejudices reinforced.
Some footballers are bright. Some aren't.
None of those statements disprove the others.

 

The world cup isn't important at all, it's a mere folly. Its full of many overpaid players kicking a bag of wind around for a few weeks and cheating to try and get their way (or less than a few weeks in our case usually) in a country which has no morality and that has likely paid way over the odds (and who knows what else) to a corrupt seemingly unanswerable organisation that doesn't have reporting transparency.

Is ever there was a microcosm of how the world has evolved into what it absolutely shouldn't be, the world cup is very much it.

 

Its important to me and to thousands of other fans around the world actually.

 

I’ve never played with my own. I’d not leave the house if I had one. I love a good fanny.

 

You love any fanny, admit it.