Why this picture of England’s Under 20 team should NOT make you feel uncomfortable

The FA are mortified because photographs taken of the England Under 20 squad at lunch and in training show the players divided on racial lines
One table is made up of black players, the other white. There seems to be a split in the swimming pool, too, and on exercise bikes
Yet nobody claimed the squad was fractured by animosity or distrust. Other photographs, in less structured situations, showed no split at all
Ideally, everyone sits anywhere – but international duty is strained enough without forcing players into situations that may be socially discomforting
Let them relax, befriend who they want. The squad will come together

Martin Samuel – Sport for the Daily Mail

Published:
21:46 GMT, 23 June 2015

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Updated:
23:30 GMT, 23 June 2015

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Craig Kieswetter was explaining how England’s cricket team had lost its way. ‘Success changed people,’ he said. ‘Cliques developed. It grew worse. The Test players were together so much that, when the limited-overs players turned up, it felt like you were on the outside. The Test guys hung out with each other; the limited-overs guys hung out.’

Birds of a feather, in other words, flocked together. It isn’t always healthy that way and Kieswetter believes team spirit suffered. Sometimes, though, that’s just the way society is. The Football Association are mortified because photographs taken of the England Under 20 squad at lunch and in training show the players divided on racial lines. One table is made up of black players, the other white. There seems to be a split in the swimming pool, too, and on exercise bikes.

Gareth Southgate, who does not take the Under 20 team but has responsibility for it, was sensitive. ‘It’s quite clear from my experiences with England junior teams that there is no issue,’ he said. ‘It was a picture that was unrepresentative of what goes on in our development teams. I find the accusation of a split within the teams, and within football, a little bit difficult to stomach, really.’

England’s U20 players appear to be divided along racial lines in this picture but there is no split on the field

Pictures appeared to show England’s players separated by race when they exercised in a swimming pool

England players (pictured left to right – Chuba Akpom, Demarai Gray, Dominic Iorfa, Kortney Hause, John Swift and Duncan Watmore) exercise on a bike as they prepare for the Toulon Tournament, which started in May

Yet nobody claimed the squad was fractured by animosity or distrust. Other photographs, in less structured situations, showed no split at all. It was just interesting that, socially, the players did not seek out clubmates but others perceived to be from the same social background. Football is a multi-racial sport in England and has been for many years. There were no accusations of racism, or exclusion. It just made us shift uncomfortably to see the limitations of our society laid bare.

We haven’t come as far as we think. I remember going on a pre-season tour with Arsenal in 1989 and being aware that the black players — Paul Davis, David Rocastle, Michael Thomas, Kevin Campbell and Gus Caesar — stuck together around the pool. The subject of Ryan Giggs’ ethnicity — he has a pale face but a black father — was never in doubt at Manchester United because, as one player said privately, ‘he’s always with the black lads’.

None of this was considered strange. There have rarely been two units as tight as George Graham’s Arsenal and Sir Alex Ferguson’s Manchester United. The FA’s attempt at damage limitation here is misguided. Nobody said there was a problem. It was merely interesting that for all the advances in our multi-racial society, people remain most comfortable with others from the same background.

‘For me, sport crosses religion, race and everything else,’ Southgate added. ‘I’m looking at a room of journalists and it’s not very multi-cultural.’

He’s right, of course. If lunch in the press box divided on racial lines there would be plenty of tables for one, and the white side would be as crowded as the banqueting hall at Hogwarts. At least football’s inclusivity meant that the Under 20s’ seating arrangement afforded company for all.

Gareth Southgate answered questions sensitively when asked about the picture of the Under 20s squad

Kevin Campbell (centre) skips past Norman Whiteside and Dave Watson for Arsenal in 1990

Roy Hodgson feared two tables, one for Rio Ferdinand and friends, the other for John Terry and his acolytes, had he picked both at the 2012 European Championship, but this was not like that. Ferdinand entered the debate this week, saying he was shocked by the photographs and blaming the management for not integrating the squad.

‘A simple answer would be to put name tags on the dinner tables and then swap them around each day,’ he said. ‘In that way, everyone will get to know everyone else and it tears down any boundaries that may exist.’

Yet Ferdinand also admitted that when he first came into the England set-up, Manchester United and Liverpool players did not mix. The two groups occupied separate tables, leaving players from other clubs unsure where to sit for fear of falling out with a particular clique. So why no name tags then? That United-Liverpool schism had just as much potential to rupture the camp as any perceived split in the Under 20 team.

Yes, ideally, everyone sits anywhere — but international duty is strained enough without forcing players into situations that may be socially discomforting. Let them relax, befriend who they want. In time, the squad will come together. There are ways of bonding without making every mealtime an icebreaker.

The worst thing to happen would be if the FA tried to micro-manage dinner arrangements instead of letting the players be themselves. After all, there is no suggestion this team is not united when the match begins.

Roy Hodgson picked Rio Ferdinand (left) over John Terry for his Euro 2012 squad

The recently retired Craig Kieswetter (right) spoke about cliques within the England cricket camp

Indeed, the divisions Kieswetter spoke of are more harmful than anything captured in those images of England’s young footballers. In a room of strangers or acquaintances, they were looking for the familiar, for shared experience, common ground. A clique based on hierarchical structure — one that treats new players as somehow inferior — is by comparison hugely damaging to team spirit.

Equally, Kieswetter’s revelation that the cricketers split into South Africans and English during training exercises may also explain why the mood in England’s camp deteriorated so quickly. It was as if half the squad — and no doubt that included Kevin Pietersen — were made to feel they were ‘not one of us’.

That will eat into morale more surely than a genuinely innocent cultural divide. Nobody was excluded as England’s footballers ate lunch. They made a choice.

We are uncomfortable with it. That’s our problem, not theirs.

Back-to-back majors shows Spieth’s got ‘it’

Jordan Spieth is the only player in 74 years to win the next major after his first. This is a young man of remarkable substance. Gary Player was asked about the quality that makes a championship golfer. This is his reply.

‘What makes people win these tournaments? Well, Tom Weiskopf is a good friend of mine. And Tom was a better player than Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player. He should have won 10 because he was so good.

The enigmatic Tom Weiskopf won The Open in 1973 but The Towering Inferno should have won more

Jordan Spieth won back-to-back majors with another commanding performance at Chambers Bay

‘But he never had that thing called “it”. I cannot describe “it”. It’s something that is, in my opinion, a loan from God. A lot of people would laugh at that. But it’s something you cannot describe. ‘Can you accept adversity, can you enjoy pain, can you keep your cool? Will you play the right shot at the right time? Will you accept a three-putt and go to the next tee with a positive attitude? ‘It’s a combination of a lot of things. And I can’t describe it. No-one can. If we could we’d have a lot of superstars.’

He could have been talking about Spieth. Maybe he was.

Football’s big issue Stateside…

With the smart planning that is a feature of American sport, the US Open’s visit to the Pacific North West coincided with a run of home games for the Seattle Mariners baseball franchise. I went on Friday, when the Houston Astros were in town.

It was fantastic. Paid 98 bucks for probably the best seat I’ve ever had at a game. Front row, next to the Mariners pen, so close to the action you could almost fill in at first base. Great-looking arena, too, and the Mariners won, so a good time was had by all.

It was Star Wars night, meaning Darth Vader threw the ceremonial pitch, Princess Leia did a bit of go-go dancing during the seventh-inning stretch and at the end there was a fireworks display. I have no clue why. And this is the strange thing. The game itself was magnificent. The first pitch of the night went for an Astros home run, the Mariners fought back, it was riveting stuff. The crowd, though, seemed more concerned with the incidentals: the dancing moose mascot, the snacks, the lame attempts at a Mexican wave.

Safeco Field played host to a superb spectacle between the Seattle Mariners and the Houston Astros

The Mariners’ Mark Trumbo bats against the Astros during their 5-2 victory on Friday

If the giant screen implored them to be LOUDER, they made a bit of noise, and then retreated into a hum of conversation. The following day at the Seattle Sounders MLS game, there was greater engagement. It felt like a sports event rather than a day out at a theme park.

And that is soccer’s great obstacle Stateside. It is not really their culture.

America likes sports that stop and start, or doze off and wake up, because it makes time for all the hoopla going on around the play: the dancing, the scoreboard games, the regular trips to the concession stands. There will be those who resist soccer’s rise on patriotic grounds, too. Incredibly, the reaction to the Charleston shootings has not been a commitment to outlawing firearms, but a movement to allow them into churches — so Dylann Roof’s victims could have shot back. A terrified crowd, heavily armed and firing wildly. Sounds healthy.

So, despite the worries about degenerative brain disease caused by the head-to-head physical contact in NFL, there will no doubt be those who will wrap themselves in the flag over it, and declare that it is every American’s unalienable right to spend middle age in a corner, drooling.

I remain convinced that soccer is the future here, but it will take time.

This is Partick Thistle’s new mascot. He was introduced on Twitter. ‘Hiya, pals!’ read his message. Run for your lives wee bairns of Glasgow. They should put him in the team. Who’s going to mark that at corners? He looks like he wants to suck out your soul through your eye sockets.

Partick Thistle’s new mascot ‘Kingsley’ was designed by Turner Prize nominated artist David Shrigley

And while we’re at it

The greens at Chambers Bay golf course were the same for everybody. That’s the argument. But they weren’t. That’s the reality.

Ian Poulter, clearly mindful of a backlash against cosseted golfers, chose his words carefully and even provided photographic evidence on social media before leaving the Pacific North West.

‘Mike Davis, the head of the USGA, unfortunately hasn’t spoken the truth about the condition of the greens,’ he said. ‘Look at the picture. This was the surface we had to putt on. It is disgraceful that the USGA hasn’t apologised.

‘It wasn’t a bad golf course. It played well, but the green surfaces were not playable. If this was a regular PGA tour event lots of players would have withdrawn. They were simply the worst, most disgraceful surfaces I have seen on any tour in all the years I have played. The US Open deserves better.’

Ian Poulter was outspoken about the quality of the greens at Chambers Bay, calling them ‘disgraceful’

Dustin Johnson glares at the grass after missing a birdie putt on the 12th green during the second round

This isn’t mere moaning. This is a genuine issue which must be addressed in future championships.

The US Open prides itself on setting up courses in an uncompromising fashion and that’s wonderful. There is most certainly room in golf’s calendar for a major tournament with attitude.

Greens, though, must be fair. Chambers Bay wasn’t the same for all because putts were bobbling and spitting in a way that was alien to the shot hit. A lousy kick on the fairway is random too, but professionals know that dealing with bad luck is part of the game.

Once on the green, though, touch and skill should triumph. Jordan Spieth was a happy man by the end, but his frequent public displays of exasperation when putting over the last four days suggest that, privately, he will agree with Poulter. This can’t happen again.

It could be a dud Cech for Chelsea

There is something very bold about a manager who is willing to solve the problem of a rival. We thought Chelsea had done that by selling Juan Mata to Manchester United, but the payback never materialised. One can argue that David Luiz returned to haunt them in the Champions League with Paris Saint-Germain, but few thought the £50million that helped finance the arrival of Diego Costa and Cesc Fabregas was anything but grand business. Petr Cech to Arsenal, however, may be a bravura move too far.

Goalkeeper is a very specialised position, one that has been a huge issue for Arsenal since Jens Lehmann moved to Stuttgart in 2008. The defence has lacked confidence, which will happen if the back four are unsure of the man guarding the goal.

Petr Cech is set to swap Chelsea for Arsenal in a move which strengthens one of Jose Mourinho’s title rivals

John Terry, meanwhile, says Cech is worth as much as 15 points a season to any team and while that may be an exaggeration — even Peter Shilton was only rated as worth 10 by Brian Clough — 13 would have been enough to make Arsenal champions last season. What player would add 15 points to Chelsea? Not one that can be bought for £11m, that’s for sure.

Having all but burned his bridges again, Emmanuel Adebayor says he is raring to go at Tottenham next season. He has one year left on his contract and knows he will not get a six-figure weekly salary anywhere else. Tottenham are desperate to sell, ready to subsidise his move and even drop below their knockdown price of £5million.

Despite this, Adebayor has been telling social media: ‘Can’t wait to come back to Tottenham and show everyone the passion I have for the club…’ Sadly, that ship has sailed. Adebayor has had four seasons to show his passion for Spurs. His appearances have fallen year on year — he made 11 starts in all competitions last season — and his goal total is now negligible. It is time to find the next bunch of suckers.

Emmanuel Adebayor’s (centre) ship has sailed at Tottenham despite his latest outburst on social media

Allison Curbishley, former Great Britain 400 metre runner and now a broadcaster on the BBC, is one more from the world of athletics who is not at all perturbed when an athlete coached by a figure at the centre of a performance-enhancing drugs scandal turns out to have missed drugs tests.

She has been engaged in a lively debate on Twitter with several sports writers and tried to involve this one, via a fake account in my name. Apparently, Allison is confused by the meaning of words such as fictional and parody. Maybe that’s why the BBC leaves the investigations to another department.