By Anifowoshe George
Yes I can read your thoughts, the title of this piece looks like a Nollywood story right? I knew that myself even before I decided to pen this article. Well, to disappoint you, I am not writing about the so called third largest movie industry in the world neither am I writing about the men and women in Nollywood who enjoy cult following across the African continent.
So what am I writing about? I am writing about the ‘‘money bags’’ who dominate the sports we all love to follow. Okay football is the greatest sport since the nineteenth century but few will argue that the game of golf attracts huge sponsorship from corporate brands and of course the year round PGA tours are a financial windfall. We all know the kind of lifestyle these sport stars live, I mean who wouldn’t live such a life when you make millions of dollars every other week, you could basically afford every thing money can buy- Choice houses and automobile, holidays in the Barbados and of course the most beautiful women on the face of the earth.
So, what is it about sports personalities and the daughters of eve? These rich sports stars can’t seem to get enough of beautiful ladies; they have great taste too- most footballers go for models/ beauty queens.
John’s Terry is one player that works his socks off on the pitch of play and what better way to play off field than to engage in frolics with women and indulge in wild parties. I guess he is living the cliché ‘‘All work and no play will certainly make John Terry a dull man’’. But then his admirable football career has been one punctuated with controversies-gambling, well-publicized womanizing and drinking.
There’s no gain saying that the Chelsea and former England captain’s private life has been the source of media attention for the wrong reasons. In 2007, he confessed to cheating on his girlfriend and later wife Toni Pole with at least eight women before they got married in the same year.
In 2001, Terry and three England team mates were fined two weeks’ wages after they appeared drunk at Heathrow airport. John Terry’s reign as England captain reached an abrupt end, last week, as revelations of his relationship with England team-mate Wayne Bridge’s former fiancée Vanessa Perroncel, (a French-born lingerie model who is the mother of Bridge’s son Jaydon) surfaced.
The raging controversy could cause disharmony in the tree lion’s camp and ultimately affect their chances at next summer’s world cup. Many football fans frantically called for the 170,000 pounds a-week player to be stripped of the captain’s armband. Coach Fabio Capello granted their wish last Friday when he stripped the Chelsea strong man of the England captaincy.
And……did I forget to mention the ‘sexcapes’ of a certain ‘‘Mr hotballs’’ from the Giorgio Armani underwear advert? I mean sexy Christiano Ronaldo who also loves to dribble around the hearts of women as well as he dribbles on the pitch of play. Last October, the wing wizard was injured and a Spanish witch claimed to have been contracted by a scorned lady whose heart the former footballer of the year shattered to pieces.
Did I hear someone say ‘‘hell hath no fury as a woman scorned?’’
In December 2009, billionaire golfer Tiger Woods was treated of minor injuries after he crashed his Cadillac SUV into a tree outside his Florida home. Apparently the star golfer was fleeing from his enraged wife who was alleged to have chased him with a golf club. Weeks later, facts emerged that Mr. Woods had indeed cheated on his wife with at least eight women; and the billionaire golf star seems to have a special interest in blonde women- his list of alleged mistresses include porn stars, bikini models, pancake waitresses and night club hostesses.
At the last count, the number of women the good looking golfer had allegedly bedded was almost a dozen with different women coming out to stake a claim of engaging in raunchy escapades with him. Although the furore generated by the controversy has died down with the highest earning sport man checking into rehab for sex addiction, it remains to be seen how the drama will end; and how he’ll pick up the pieces of his career in the coming months
Tiger wood’s wife Elin Nordegren, who was said to have contemplated divorce when the revelations broke, has now had a change of heart telling all who cares to listen that she’ll stand by her husband and save her marriage. The pair have two kids-Sam and Charlie.
And before I draw the curtains on my Nollywood flick…..I mean article, I figured there are a couple of randy sportsmen in Nigeria too. Remember former Super Eagles player Godwin Okpara who played at the world cup in 1998? Well, the footballer obviously couldn’t resist the burning temptation in his trouser as he allegedly had carnal knowledge of his then thirteen year old step-daughter.
Okpara is reportedly languishing in a French cell paying the price for his dastardly act.
But it is a difficult thing to divorce footballers and the ‘‘wild life’’. The super eagle’s campaign at the Mali 2002 Nations cup was almost marred as key members of the team reportedly sneaked out of camp to enjoy the bed with women of easy virtues.
Well, I won’t mention names but we can all recollect that some players were sent back home from the soccer competition. Apart from the field of play, the only place you can catch up with Nigerian footballers is the night club where they frequent after major international assignments to enjoy a few bottles and maybe…………..
So is it a case of sportsmen working hard and playing harder? The only thing I can tell is: ‘‘that no body holy pass!’’
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