Retirements, droppings and bye byes
Signal of intent from McClaren or not, Beckham being dropped makes you ponder over the question which is oft repeated in sport - when should a sports man call it quits? I believe in the general thumb rule - a sports person should retire when the retirement leads people to asking the question why has he retired instead of why not when the person is still playing usually.
Beckham was past the stage of why and it was only a matter of time before his England duties would have finally ended. So, there isn’t much shock over the dropping of Beckham despite timelines and suchlike being written.
There is the bigger picture of there still being enough time for Beckham to make a come back if the young guns don’t come up with the level expected of them. He has had an injury recently, this is a friendly and McClaren hasn’t ruled out the scenario of Beckham making a come back. So, despite the media talk over Beckham being dropped, you cannot be sure if he has had his final bye bye where the national team is concerned.
Personally speaking, I would find it perfect for Beckham and ngland to part ways right now. There is a lot of time for the World Cup. The build up process with the attention shifted from Beckham can start from right now. Between now and the world cup, Euro does exist but with the world cup being of prime importance, why not give some one the experience in the Euro.
The current situation with Beckham can strike a common chord with any sports person in his final years. So a similarity can be forged with a Tendulkar post the cricket world cup 2007 for example. Even right now, there are questions being asked of Tendulkar and people will always do that. It is for the sports persons to make the big statements on the field. As Tendulkar makes his return, I back Tendulkar to make those big statements necessary of him.
What should happen with Tendulkar and India post world cup 2007 will be dependant on a lot of factors, among which will be how many years you think specific players can play for the team and how good they are at the given stage. I would still back Tendulkar to play on and play till world cup 2011 given that cricketers (batsmen particularly) can play in the latter years (cases in point - Inzamam, Brian Lara). That is a question to be pondered over after a few months and not right now though.
What this shows is that despite a lot of voices asking for your retirement, if you believe that you can silence those critics by the sheer weight of your performances, you can carry on despite why not being asked. However, you have to constantly prove yourself and if you do not do that, you cannot grudge some one dropping you from the team despite your records in the past. So, some one can carry one despite people asking why not if he has faith in his ability. If this wasn’t true, great comebacks and performances at the end of the career wouldn’t have happened. For example, Pete Sampras wouldn’t have won his last grand slam.
Whatever the sport, a sports person keeps battling to give in performances day in and day out - trying to defy age as nature catches up. There are always younger and stronger people trying to replace you in the team. It is tough to get into a team and much tougher still to maintain that spot. The battles keep happening not just against your opponents but with the youngsters and yourself as well..
The bye byes are never happy.
Tags: English Football, Retirement.
August 12th, 2006 at 6:15 am
Becks might not be finished, but whoever saw the World Cup would say give the Lennon lad a good run. He’s fast, gives a lotta headaches to the full backs. SWP is also waiting in the wings. But there’s one thing which might be on Becks’ favour - bending the ball, from the wing and dead-ball opportunities. No one has come close. But again that depends on the team’s strategy - playing down the middle, through the wings etc. I’d say he still has a cpl of years in him but I don’t expect to see him in South Africa!!!
August 12th, 2006 at 2:39 pm
Everybody would like to go out like Schmeichel (though he didn’t retire) and Imran Khan did..but rarely happens! (though Redgrave did memorably in Sydney-2000) And thats a pic of Roy Keane! Nice one though.
August 12th, 2006 at 9:48 pm
Maverick.. Beckham can definitely be back if the young guys don’t take the opportunities they get. I don’t expect him to be in South Africa either.
SportSnob.. Ya I loved the pic and so put it. Yeah dream retirements are rare. It is sad when the heroes don’t have respectful retirements though..
August 14th, 2006 at 2:05 pm
There are times when it’s sad, but particularly in cricket, you have so many players hanging on for very superficial reasons. Take Kapil, who kept Srinath out of the side for so long, while bowling at a trundling medium pace in his last year and only staying around to take Hadlee’s record - or Javed Miandad who wanted a World Cup farewell, and went out in shame in the 96 World Cup looking like a shell of himself.
It’s a question of timing and grace. Some, like Nasser Hussain, Gavaskar and Ambrose, got it perfect. So many others didn’t and couldn’t leave on their own terms. I just hope Tendulkar doesn’t follow in Kapil or Miandad’s path.
August 14th, 2006 at 6:19 pm
nasser hussain was smart enough to time his retirement 4 tests short of the 100 mark!!! i dont see many indian players doing that. azharuddin was stuck on 99 albeit dumped for altogether different reasons.
August 14th, 2006 at 11:51 pm
Salil, it is sad to see heroes bow out disgracefully. Exactly why people should try and get it near right (you cannot be expected to get it totally right always) where retirement is concerned.
Ravi, yeah the scenario is particularly sad with Indians, especially Indian test captains. If we look back at how Indian test captains have exited, most have been sad bye byes.