by Benjamin Sawyer
However, we have seen a sudden drop-off of this phenomenon in recent years. One of the key reasons must surely be the changing nature of the sport: during the 1980s and early 1990s, before the arrival of the UK’s Premier League, there was generally much less money involved in the sport.
In contrast, consider the nature of modern-day football, with players commonly earning six-figure salaries every month alongside their sponsorship commitments across fashion, beauty and food sectors. Sports betting is also now a multi-million-pound industry with fans eagerly trying to predict the outcomes of individual matches as well as whole seasons for their favourite teams. Where once there were just simple wagers on outright markets, there are now seemingly endless options for those wanting to place a wager on the sport. Options such as eSports (games like FIFA), in-play betting and virtual football betting have further allured prospective bettors, improving the interaction between fans and their beloved sport even between tournaments and campaigns.
Evidently, football is now a ludicrous sport both on and off the pitch. Even though the examples that follow were pretty successful players in their day, they will never have had the chance to amass the fortunes of the most highly-paid stars of this era, even in their relatively short playing careers.
Footballers-Turned-Actors
The prime example of an ’80s footballer who managed to completely reinvent himself after retiring is Vinnie Jones. He owes much of his current success to director Guy Ritchie who picked him to play hard-man Big Chris in his own breakthrough movie, 1998’s Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels. This set him on a fairly predictable road of playing enforcers in a number of different scenarios. Ironically, Ritchie’s career has gone in a rather different direction, including the live-action Aladdin released in 2016.
For Jones, it did help that he already had something of a reputation as a player not to be messed with, especially when he was a member of Wimbledon FC’s self-styled Crazy Gang whose trademark style was to intimidate the opposition into submission.
Another player who was no stranger to a violent outburst was Eric Cantona. When not suspended for karate-kicking fans, he was also famous for making rather enigmatic speeches about seagulls following trawlers. This artistic temperament was also instrumental in the sorts of film roles that he started to take on after hanging up his boots. These have ranged from playing the French ambassador in the 1998 film Elizabeth to himself, though in a spectral form, in the 2009 Ken Loach film, Searching for Eric. Most recently he’s also been seen playing a king in a video for a Liam Gallagher song.
What both these men have in common is very strongly distinct personalities and this may be another reason why today’s generation of footballers aren’t due to make the same transmission to the big screen. It really does seem that now the secret to success for a player isn’t just to give 100% on the pitch: it’s also a commitment to professionalism, which demands that players are as neutral and corporate as possible in press conferences and post-match interviews.
And what film fan really wants to see that translated into a performance when they go to spend their hard-earned cash at the movies?
