When adulthood crushes childhood dreams
There was a time every boy wanted to be Michel Platini. However, those young dreamers have long since grown up, and so has he. When the pure and unwavering desire to score goals seemed unchangeable, none of them was aware that someone up there was looking down and saying “Let’s see about that.”
Having quit playing to become one of Europe’s highest-ranking football officials, Platini has now plummeted from grace with his integrity hanging in the balance. Nobody wants to be him now, regardless of his income and history. The man every boy dreamt of being for just one day is now fighting to salvage an off-the-pitch reputation that is overshadowing his brilliance on it.
The Guardian newspaper recently summed up his plight. Reporting on his latest legal trouble over the decision to hand Qatar the rights to host the 2022 World Cup, the newspaper described Platini as “the banned former Uefa president”. Mercifully, that was followed by “France football legend”.
The question, however, is not whether those two descriptions should have swapped places. The real issue is how he reached this point. Platini the player and Platini the official might offer different answers, or they could mournfully agree that he should have stuck with what he did best.
Whether Qatar should host the World Cup is a political question that the footballing legend should probably have left well alone. The desert kingdom may or may not be an appropriate host. Either way, Platini was not the right man in the right job to make that decision, whether he actually “put himself there” or not.
He was born to stick the ball in the back of the net, not to decide which country should organise football’s top tournament. The French maestro is one of the greatest footballers of all time, having won a hat-trick of Ballons d’Or – the most prestigious award for players – in 1983, 1984 and 1985. He also came sixth in Fifa’s Player of the Century vote.
That was all down to his exploits on the pitch. That glorious history is recorded in Wikipedia, but then followed by this: “As president of Uefa in 2015, he was banned from football, over ethics violations.” One of the greatest footballers of all time has now been banned from football. The irony could not be more cruel.
For every boy, there was a time when nothing mattered more than kicking the ball between the two goalposts – or rocks or sandals. But when you are great at something, money often intervenes. Some great athletes can juggle both glory and money, but many are not that lucky.
It’s normal to see great footballers achieving high-ranking positions in the game’s governing bodies. But there can be a big price to pay, and Platini is Exhibit A. If his legal troubles worsen, history might be a lot more unkind to him than the Guardian and Wikipedia articles.
He has denied all allegations of corruption levelled against him. His brief “detention” a few days ago by police investigating the Qatar World Cup saga hurt him badly, he said. Platini may argue that he entered football governance with pure intentions of helping improve the sport he loves, but again, he could have just let somebody else do the “improvement” part.
Not every football legend succeeds in other aspects of life. Diego Maradona and Paul Gascoigne have struggled with personal turmoil. Other former stars on the field have been fired as coaches.
One thing they have in common is the incredible luck, in their younger days, to excel at doing the thing they loved and even be rewarded handsomely for it. It’s tragic how mature adulthood can neutralise all that.
Years ago, boys across Europe were surveyed on what they wanted to do most in life. The answer would still stand today. Almost all wanted to score the winning goal in a major football final. Money was never even mentioned. None of the boys wanted to lead a business company.
It’s safe to say that today’s boys hardly know who Platini was. They idolise Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, Neymar or Mo Salah. When they do come across the name “Platini”, it will be associated with scandals, not the Juventus scoring machine or the France captain who won Euro 84 and flew high at the World Cup.
Today’s boys can check out YouTube to see just how good he was. Unfortunately, few will do so. But those curious enough to watch the old clips may get confused. How come a player as good as that has ended up in a legal jam as bad as this?
Again, someone up there might only chuckle at such confusion. “Wait until you grow up, kids,” might come the answer.