Sportsperson: Rebel or Role Model?

“[He] called me a ‘rapist’ and a ‘recluse.’ I’m not a recluse.” — Mike Tyson

Mike Tyson, one of the most fearsome boxers of the 90s never minced words in front of the media. Despite the tremendous skillset, everyone had eyes on his actions outside the ring. Can fans segregate on field and off field actions of superstar athletes or the athletes should realize that they are a public figure and hide their true self?

This is something which will always remain unanswered.

Why is sports and its superstars so important to humans?

Everyone wants to experience the atmosphere at Signal Iduna Park (Home of Borussia Dortmund). It is said the fans of Borussia Dortmund are the most loyal ones you can encounter in the world and every sports fan wants to experience that electric surrounding in the stadium.

Sports is something which unites humans. Be it a cricket world cup match between India and Pakistan, el Classico between Real Madrid and Barcelona or the NBA playoffs between Boston Celtics and LA Lakers. Such events bring people together to cheer for their favorite teams. More than favorite teams, many of them cheer for the superstars that raise the level of the game even higher. Yes, each sport is a team game, but a superstar athlete keeps people tied to the game even in the team’s darkest times.

Amid this unity among fans, we fail to draw a line between a role model and rebellious behavior of our beloved athletes. The recent Netflix series on Neymar Jr reflected how an athlete can become a rebel at one time and suddenly be a role model simply by means of their performance. Neymar’s desire to go back to Barcelona from PSG or his on field antics of getting fouled caused a furor among French fans and critics. A year later in 2021, everyone was all praises for Neymar Jr. Did anything change in his attitude? He is still the same Neymar with his dubious off field antics, but his performance improved and hence the fans considered him a role model.

Mike Tyson was always considered a legend in boxing fraternity, but he never earned the respect of a role model because of his off-field activities. The lower duration of boxing career can be attributed to that.

Legends like Roger Federer and Michael Jordan have always been considered as role model without an ounce of rebellious nature in them. This solemn demeanor can be attributed to a humble life, but also the extreme consistency in their superlative performances which never allowed the fans to criticize them or make them feel worthless.

Athletes from all sports are role models as they are playing at the highest stage, but fans need to respect their space to avoid the rebellious nature to come in front of the public and influence the future generation. This not only affects the common man, but also the players itself. Naomi Osaka’s rapid exposure to media and public opposed to her introvert nature suddenly made her rebellious and made her take actions like walking out of press conferences. This would not have happened if she was given her own space and her nature would have been respected.

Every domain has its set of different people and sports fraternity is no different. There will be some players who will be inherently rebellious and would have a lot of success in their head. They need to be criticized in the public to help them make amends as they are the role models for all the generations. There are some who turn rebellious because of public pressure and constant glare on their lives which makes them take actions to stay away but fall further into the vicious trap of public glare.

All this leads to issues in the player’s performance and a constant tiff with sports administration and the coaching staff. The constant scrutiny of Virat Kohli’s performance on the cricket field pressurized him to do something different. The pressure resulted in him getting sacked/leaving the captaincy because of a potential conflict with the sports administration. In case the public scrutiny was minimized, maybe there would not have been any question on his exceptional captaincy record or his consistent performances. The high standards make the public expect more, but this turns out the demons within the player’s minds and the sports administration’s minds. The same case can be observed in Kevin Pietersen’s sudden departure from cricket. Being a public figure, his performances were scrutinized heavily by the English fans and he was made the scapegoat of a disappointing Ashes campaign in 2013 despite being one of the consistent scorers for the English cricket team

The public scrutinization will never stop in the world of sports, but what we as ardent fans of the sports can do is to respect our role model’s lives rationally and not turn them into rebels in our heads when they are not performing well. We should stand up against any rebellious sportsperson or uncalled for comments, but we should stand by them when they are right and not admonish them completely when they are not performing well or your favorite team is not performing well.

“You fall down so that you can learn to get up” — Albert Pennyworth

This quote applies for every human being and more so for the sportspersons. Sportspersons will always be our role models till we enable them to be one. The moment our support for them and the team vanishes, the rebel will rise. Let us support them in their best and worst times equally, if not more