JAMES McCLEAN HAS hit back at the vile abusers who have trolled him on social media.
In an interview with Sky Sports, McClean detailed some of the content he has had to read online. “I have read things like ‘I hope your kids get coronavirus and die’ or ‘It would be a laugh if your house burned down with your kids inside’.
“There was someone online, who looked over 40, abusing my kids. Of course (it’s upsetting). Footballers are a free hit. It’s like it’s viewed as we earn this amount of money so we should just take it.”
McClean was recently the subject of more attention when he posed for a picture wearing a balaclava, saying he was about to conduct a ‘history lesson’. His club, Stoke City, subsequently fined him two weeks wages. “If I sat here,” McClean said, “and said I don’t regret things I’d be lying but I can take a lot of abuse and can’t have fun back?
“It was supposed to be light-hearted joke but I can understand why it didn’t go down well. People think I did a history lesson like that but I didn’t actually do it.”
One thing he did do recently was put his hand in his pocket to buy medical equipment – inlcuding 400 pairs of gloves and 100 face masks – for staff at Derry’s Altnagelvin hospital.
“I was going through Facebook and saw a post asking for help,” said McClean. “I just typed into Google to see what I could get and was fortunate to find equipment.
“It’s not going to solve all the problems but hopefully it can tide them over. It begs the question if I’m able to go online why can’t the authorities supply enough equipment?”
Instead the authorities have challenged footballers to take a pay-cut, a plea led by UK health secretary, Matt Hancock.
“You’ve got Matt Hancock saying we should take a pay cut,” said McClean. “It is ridiculous. No one seems to like footballers.
“We’ve got livelihoods too and people might take this the wrong way but we do work hard for our money.
“Think about what players pay towards government tax. Football is a short career and we’ve got to look after our families once it’s over. I’ve seen players do great deeds from their own pocket. I’m a Derry boy.
“We weren’t blessed with a lot of money growing up so if I see someone struggling I take the position I’m in seriously. I like to help people less fortunate as much as I can. I’ve been in a position that I’ve been less fortunate.”
While keeping Hooper in Australia for the next 5 years is obviously the priority, 5 years is a big commitment for Hooper to make for one contract, even if it’s for 5 million. Financially it would be a great move for Hooper but whether he wants to tie himself down for that long is questionable.
I personally think that the ARU would be better off putting a 3-year contract on the table for 3 million-which is still too much for European clubs to buy out for 2 years at least-and then look at it again in 2021. Add in the factor that there is a high injury rate for international backrows in their late twenties and the ARU could possibly offer less money in 3 years time.
Regardless of whether Hooper takes the contract or not, this offer shows the desperate state that Australian rugby union is in at the moment.
@EK: With league cherry picking some of union’s best youngsters (Ponga and Crichton to name but a few), the ARU needs to keep as many high-profile names at home as possible-there has to be some union players for youngsters to aspire to. Too many young union players want to be the next Cooper Cronk(another union schoolboy) or Greg Inglis rather than the next Will Genia or David Pocock. Union’s not dead yet in Australia, but it could be soon if they don’t take drastic action.
@EK: the ARU have mismanaged the game to catastrophic levels in the last 15 years. All the focus was on setting up new franchises and very little on grassroots development. As a result the game suffered in Queensland and NSW, and didn’t even make a dent in Victoria or WA.
He’s no Dan Leavy