So I've watched the first couple of episodes of the Beckham documentary which has contained no surprises so far but did make me feel a bit nostalgic for the 90s (especially a whole segment with Supersonic in the background). When I was at school I saw Beckham playing on loan at Notts County and then some league cup game or something. I was really impressed and telling my close friends about how great he was, how hard he struck the ball. This was before he was even known by most fans never mind a household name, he wasn't in the first team. Then coming back for sixth form in 1996 after he hit that halfway line goal vs Wimbledon I was smug as, "told ya!" bla bla. Point being I've always had a soft spot for him because I "discovered him" (clearly he was discovered long before but even some Man United fans didn't really know about him, no internet back then).
By WC'98 he was established, as an 18yo it was also my first tournament watching games in the pub, to this day I've still NEVER experienced an atmosphere excluding stadiums like the Columbia game, when he scored that freekick, it was absolute bedlam. SOOOO good.
And then of course we come to the subject of this thread, the red card vs Argentina. At the time I was a bit torn, he was a favourite of mine but also when you're a teenager the WC is a big deal, literally my only memories of it were getting robbed by Maradona, penalty heartbreak against west germany and that's it (didn't qualify in '94). So there was that undertone of resentment there, getting himself sent off in such a stupid, petulant way. To be honest, I pretty much wanted to move on quickly but ALSO I did kind of relish the treatment he was getting, and was a bit surprised when it faded away. Like he scores a freekick against Greece in 2001 and suddenly all is forgiven, tbh it had died down a lot by then anyway. I had visions of him getting abused for life.
Watching the documentary, which clearly will be positioned a certain way, I'm left feeling that it was a bit over the top. He's got sent off for a moment of madness, but do we really need hanging effigies, death threats to his parents house, the 90s red top media circus (remember this is the days of full on stalking / phone hacking / hounding Diana etc)?
When a similar situation happened with Rooney, there was for sure a media storm but it died out a lot quicker and never reached the same heights.
Basically I feel like there was a line that was crossed there, the country needed a scapegoat and he was the obvious target but I really wouldn't want to have been in his shoes, you might be a millionaire playing for your country and shagging a pop star but getting spat on in the street by people you've never met, can't pull your curtains without a hundred flash blubs going off etc, that would wear you down after a whiie.
By WC'98 he was established, as an 18yo it was also my first tournament watching games in the pub, to this day I've still NEVER experienced an atmosphere excluding stadiums like the Columbia game, when he scored that freekick, it was absolute bedlam. SOOOO good.
And then of course we come to the subject of this thread, the red card vs Argentina. At the time I was a bit torn, he was a favourite of mine but also when you're a teenager the WC is a big deal, literally my only memories of it were getting robbed by Maradona, penalty heartbreak against west germany and that's it (didn't qualify in '94). So there was that undertone of resentment there, getting himself sent off in such a stupid, petulant way. To be honest, I pretty much wanted to move on quickly but ALSO I did kind of relish the treatment he was getting, and was a bit surprised when it faded away. Like he scores a freekick against Greece in 2001 and suddenly all is forgiven, tbh it had died down a lot by then anyway. I had visions of him getting abused for life.
Watching the documentary, which clearly will be positioned a certain way, I'm left feeling that it was a bit over the top. He's got sent off for a moment of madness, but do we really need hanging effigies, death threats to his parents house, the 90s red top media circus (remember this is the days of full on stalking / phone hacking / hounding Diana etc)?
When a similar situation happened with Rooney, there was for sure a media storm but it died out a lot quicker and never reached the same heights.
Basically I feel like there was a line that was crossed there, the country needed a scapegoat and he was the obvious target but I really wouldn't want to have been in his shoes, you might be a millionaire playing for your country and shagging a pop star but getting spat on in the street by people you've never met, can't pull your curtains without a hundred flash blubs going off etc, that would wear you down after a whiie.
