Easter Island

Whenever I watch a World Cup 2010 game, I pay close attention to the pre-game presentation of teams and playing and singing of national anthems. It gets on my nerves big time, when I see those overpaid young men lined up for the presentation, standing there with - in most cases - lifeless faces, indifferent to what is going on around, oblivious of the importance of their national teams being played and choosing not to sing (maybe they simply don't know the words of their national anthems?), while at the same time, team fans on the stands give their all singing their lungs out and doing whatever they can come up with in their ingenuity to emphasize their national pride and love of their country.

I have noticed during World Cup 2010 in South Africa that there are some teams notorious of their inability to display their national pride and sing their national anthems on the pitch as they lined up for pre-game presentation. And there are other teams which players must be applauded for their patriotic approach and genuine pride as they sing loud. It always make me smile seeing this. And I think this is how it should be. Maybe some of those boys think club football is more important and it where their true allegiance lies (where they get big bucks) while playing for national team for some may look like a nuisance and voluntary service for which they get little in comparison to their salaries in big clubs?

I cannot help the feeling that those guys over there lined up for the game, look simply to me like those rock statues on Easter Island in the Pacific Ocean, motionless, lifeless, staring ahead with no expression whatsoever...

Maybe this is a tiny detail in a bigger picture, but anyway, I want to see my footballers showing their national pride by singing our national anthem. It should  be spelled out clearly in their contracts. Just my two cents.