Grown men crying – it’s something that for some reason still surprises many, even in the 21st century. Footballers, it seems, don’t hesitate when it comes to expressing their emotion through the medium of bawling their eyes out!
There are many different styles and categories one can place these teary-eyed professionals.
Firstly, and perhaps most abundantly, you have the crying that follows a defeat – preferably in the last minute – of a hugely important game. It’s easy to understand just how much this must hurt and the chances of seeing a tear or two are accentuated by the sheer physical effort produced by the 90 minutes of speeding around the pitch only for it all to be in vain.
One classic example of this kind of crybaby comes in the form of the much-maligned Cristiano Ronaldo, who erupted in torrents of tears when his Portugal side fell to France in the 2006 World Cup semi-finals. The Manchester United man cried so much I thought he may drown in a sea of his own emotion. You can’t blame him though, because at least this shows just how much it means for a player to represent his country. And of course who can forget Diego Maradona after his side lost the 1990 World Cup final!
However, playing for your club and losing in the last minute of possibly the most important game of your professional career can also lead to similar states of tear infestation. For some reason its even more shocking when such occurrences lead man mountains such as Carsten Jancker (a player who is built like a human-shaped Ox) to blubber uncontrollably as he considers just how the hell his Bayern Munich side managed to go from one goal up to 2-1 down in the blink of an eye against Man United in the 1999 Champions League final.
Missing a penalty invariably ends in a tear-fest and it’s easy to understand why. Rarely in sport can so much rest on such a small action as trying to score a spot-kick. The pressure must clearly be intense and is, of course, exacerbated in a big-game occasion. The nervousness before the striking of the ball would lead mere mortals to simply melt into nothingness before the contact is made. Somehow, however, these giants of the game manage to find the strength after 120 energy-sapping minutes to trot up to the ball – but when the shot is saved or, even worse, misses the target altogether, it all becomes too much and the blubbing begins.
There are many who have befallen this fate and, whether the tears follow seconds after the error or minutes later, it’s an awful sight to see. Some players who have become famous for such an act include John Terry, Luigi di Biagio and a host of English national team players from Gareth Southgate to Stuart Pearce and Chris Waddle.
Crying in a press conference after being caught drug-taking is another classic, but something we don’t see enough of. The best example of this simply has to come from former Arsenal legend Paul Merson. The addiction-riddled player admitted at a packed press conference the sheer extent of his problems with drink, drugs and gambling. It was clearly a cathartic experience that helped the England man, who appears to have stayed on the wagon ever since. Crying can, it seems, be the best medicine for some professional athletes and, perhaps most important of all, shows that highly-paid sportsmen are indeed just human like the rest of us – albeit humans with shed loads of cash and idolised by millions.
The best crybaby moment in the history of football? Well that’s easy! It’s a moment engrained in the consciousness of a great many lovers of the game. Paul Gascoigne’s was a two-stage crying effort. The first came when he received that ill-fated yellow card that would have ruled him out of the World Cup final if England had got there. The look of sheer dejection as the card was raised was followed by a trickle of tears which were then built up to a torrent as, predictably, Bobby Robson’s men lost the penalty shootout. The image of Gazza drenched in a sea of sweat and tears at the final whistle, whilst displaying his love for his country by kissing that incredibly moist shirt, is one that lives long in the memory.