This is the amount of Barca shirts that have been personalised with the name Ronaldinho with number 10 on the back, according to FC Barcelona sales people. Until the arrival of Thierry Henry this has been the case, but now with the introduction of the French wizard, Ronaldinho now has a new rival in terms of popularity among the fans and with choice of personalisation. However, in my opinion, I think being able to overtake Ronaldinho will be very hard for Henry as many fans have come to be very loyal to Ronaldinho and the man always rewards them with his exciting style of play.

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Eto’o and Messi Look Out

It seems as though the Club Shop operators believe Henry will overtake the other two stars of Barcelona very soon and leaving a small dent in Ronaldinho jersey sales. This all of course is fan related and not management related. As far as the management is concerned, every Barca jersey that is sold is the same and it doesn’t matter whose name you have written on the back of your shirt

The premise of this post comes from the game that I had this weekend. I played a good game but something happened during the game that got me thinking about the professional nature football players display on the field in terms of their sportsmanship. For those that don’t know what the term ’sportsmanship’ means, Dictionary defines sportsmanship as the following:

1. The character, practice, or skill of a sportsman.
2. Sportsmanlike conduct, as fairness, courtesy, being a cheerful loser, etc.

Let’s Go With Definition Number Two

Now, let me tell you the story. Our team was down a goal and there must have been around 5 minutes left on the clock. With some quick scrambling and desperation, my friend was able to hit the ball past the keeper into the back of the net. Great celebrations were had by all, especially out on the pitch. Some of them ran to the sideline, I assumed to celebrate in front of our supporters, but no, the goal scorer and another ran straight to the opposition bench and started taunting them saying something along the lines of “What happened there? I scored didn’t I?” in a very sarcastic tone. The coach of the opposition was furious and didn’t appreciate what they were doing. I couldn’t agree more. I ran over and told off my team mates, telling them that what they were doing was very unprofessional and unsportsmanlike.

Disappointing Stuff To See

To see my own team mates displaying such behaviour really dented the image of our team and tainted the goal they scored, in my opinion. Many agreed with me, and as a Christian team, it was totally out of left field (excuse the pun). It then got me thinking about other players that play this beautiful game called football. Is this kind of ugly behaviour going on often? The definition for sportsmanship says being courteous, and that wasn’t displayed. Some of you may think that I’m taking this too far, but it is something that creates chaos if not dealt with properly and ruins the spirit of the game. It was great to see the coach and my team mates shake hands afterwards with no hard feelings, so I was glad to see that. This all comes back to being professional in a game, and when you display that kind of attitude, that respect aimed towards you will go very far, never underestimate that.

Such a sad day in my life and no you didn’t read incorrectly I lost my beautiful Ronaldinho 10R Tiempo Boots and I only noticed them to be missing when I checked my bag around 2 days ago. This is something I really didn’t need because I’ve had a run of bad luck lately and this really put the cherry on the sundae. I really miss them and I want them back more than anything else at this point in time. Plus shelling out $280 for them is also a reason for wanting them too I still remember the first day I got them…

All I know is that I look forward to wearing these boots for the coming seasons and I hope they can help me become an even greater player than before.

They Didn’t Even Last Me One Season

Now, let me tell you how this happened because I have a theory I want to share. It all began last week at my game on the weekend with Archangel Michael. I just had a hard fought game and I was exhausted so I sat down on the bench and took off my shoes, but I got distracted by a friend and got up to talk to them. Now I usually put my boots straight into my bag to discourage dirt collection more than anything else, but this time I didn’t get to put them in. My mates asked me to join them to go grab a bite and then come back to the other games that were happening that day. The thing here is that I didn’t realise my shoes were still out

The Thieves Make Their Move

And so here I go to eat something all the while my shoes are out near the bench where everyone can see them without an owner. I come back from lunch and don’t see my shoes around. I was really tired so I wanted to go home. Now routine would tell me that I always put my shoes in my bag, so I grabbed my bag, got into the car and went home. Little did I know they had been stolen. It was 2 days later that I realised my 10R boots were missing and I automatically assumed one of my team mates must’ve picked it up. So I showed up to the game scheduled for today to find that, no one picked them up from last week and that I was stuffed. Not only did I lose $280 boots, but I lost some really great shoes. If anything, I learnt a great lesson from this and that is to always be aware of what you’re doing and see everything through to the end, no matter how trivial the task may be, such as putting your shoes in your bag. It’s times like these I wish I was Ronaldinho, who probably gets a new pair of boots from Nike every match