Jonh Terry and the meaning of England Captaincy

This week we have been shocked by the news about last Jonn Terry's privacy affair in England. It could have just been the headline of a yellow magazine in Spain, but appart from being good news for tabloids in the U.K., It has been the front page in the news and T.V. chats worldwide.

But what is the meaning of being the captain in an England national team? What is the reason of this debate about Terry's morality? Let's see what English web pages say and then it is my opinion.

The captaincy was not assigned to one player for an appreciable number of matches until professionalism began in the 1880's and 1890's. Before that it was merely regarded as an honour with ceremonial attributes to be passed around to deserving players, a concept that continued to carry weight into the inter-war era to choose the lineups and the captain. Indeed, that notion has occasionally carried lingering force in modern times when players have been given the captaincy for a single match in recognition of long service or a milestone in career caps.

But in the post-Second World War era, the captaincy generally has been assigned by the manager/coach to a single player who remained in that role until until his international careers ended or until a new manager/coach brought in a new captain. In modern times, the manager/coach usually also picks a vice-captain, who leads the team when the regular captain is absent through injury or suspension. Michael Owen had led the team Sven-Göran Eriksson's first-choice captain, David Beckham, has been absent. In the Steve McClaren era, Steven Gerrard deputised for John Terry. As for the Capello era.....

While the England captaincy still is regarded as a great honour and carries the traditional ceremonial aspects--leading the players onto the pitch, introducing the players to match dignitaries, exchanging emblems with the visiting team's captain, attending the referee's coin toss which settles direction of play and which team kicks off at the beginning of a match--it involves much more than that. The captain is expected to exercise leadership both on and off the pitch--to serve as a public spokesman for the team, to provide a communication link between the players and the staff, and to take charge of the team during a match, rallying and inspiring the team when it is down, exercising a calming influence when tempers are frayed, encouraging young players inexperienced at international level, correcting errant players and the like. Still, England football captains generally do not have much influence on team selection.

Only players who started a match as captain are recognised as official England captains. Players who took over the captain's armband during a match when the starting captain had to leave the pitch because of injury or, in modern times, because of substitution are not listed as captains in the Football Association's official records. In fact, it has said it does not even keep records of those temporary armband wearers.

John Terry was chosen by Steve McClaren as the 106th captain, following David Beckham's resignation, with Steve Gerrard on stand-by should Terry be unfit to play. It was Steven Gerrard who became Fabio Capello's first captain in his first match in charge. Capello announced that John Terry too, would be his official captain in September 2008. Rio Ferdinand had already become England's 107th known official captain in Capello's search for a captain, Ferdinand in turn, became the vice-captain to Terry in the Capello era. Capello saw Rooney as the next natural leader.

P.D. : My opinion about this piece of news is that we must bear in mind that any football player and any public figure alike must behave properly not only in the pitch, but also in their private lives as they are followed by many of our chidren and are seen as model for their young lives. If they want to keep their fans and leaderships, they have to keep a brilliant moral life.