We're not sure what we expected from the football World Cup in South Africa but sedition and desertion from supposedly world-class footballers were not high on the list.
John Terry, perhaps still sore from having the England captaincy taken away from him by Fabio Capello, apparently tried to spark rebellion in the England camp by suggesting that he would have a word with Capello about team selection, formation and tactics. Englishmen, even the reprobates that represent their football team so it seems, are generally quite a loyal bunch and Terry has since been forced into a humiliating apology from his failed coup d'etat. That probably provoked the biggest cheer so far from England's suffering supporters in this World Cup.
Loyalty and the French are not such familiar bedfellows however. Following Nicolas Anelka's sedition, the rest of his fellow French players went on strike (how very French) and refused to train. There have even been suggestions that some of the French players would refuse to play in their do or die match against South Africa today. As captain Patrice Evra, Eric Abidal and Florent Malouda were on the bench, it would seem that this talk of desertion may have some substance.
During World War I, many French and British soldiers were shot for desertion and sedition. Of course, many of these men were victims of shellshock, severe trauma and the horrors of the trenches. Terry and the French footballers do not have any such mitigating circumstances and we are sure that many England and France supporters would happily take their place in the firing squad for this dreadful bunch of disloyal execrable primadonnas.
This lot make the disharmonious Pakistan cricket team of the last year look like blood brothers.
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