I’ll always remember a conversation I had with someone just after I’d interviewed the footballer Frank Lampard. ‘What was he like? I bet he was as thick as mince,’ they said. The reality was rather different: the former Chelsea captain was a thoughtful, intelligent and beautifully well-mannered man.
Footballers: ‘super clever’? This will shock some, but it doesn’t surprise me at all
Lots of people assume that footballers like Lampard lack intelligence, but a new study has found otherwise. Scientists studied 200 professional players in Brazil and Sweden, putting them through tests exploring various aspects of cognition, from working memory to executive function and problem-solving. They found that footballers consistently outperformed the average.
The players were in the 90th percentile in the tests that they were given, the equivalent of an IQ of 120 to 130. ‘These are super-clever individuals in terms of how their brain works,’ said Predrag Petrovic, of the Karolinska Institute in Sweden, who headed the study.
Footballers: ‘super clever’? This will shock some, but it doesn’t surprise me at all. As a sometime football writer, I’ve interviewed hundreds of footballers, many of them on multiple occasions, and I’ve found almost no evidence of the ‘thick footballer’ stereotype.
Often quite the opposite, actually. Most of the players I met were driven, focused and, yes, quite smart. They’re really not how people imagine. Ask them intelligent questions and they’ll generally give an intelligent answer. Treat them with everyday respect – rather than the hostility or sycophancy they’re used to – and they’ll be respectful back.
So why are so many people convinced footballers are thick? The most obvious reason is that the only time most of us hear footballers speak is in post-match interviews in the tunnel. These are very curious conversations: immediately after they’ve run around a pitch for 90 minutes they’re suddenly live on TV, being asked inane, or occasionally provocative, questions.
What do we expect from them in the circumstances? Rhetorical fireworks worthy of Christopher Hitchens? Shakespearean wit? Try running around your local park for an hour and a half and then being poetry itself when someone says ‘You must have been pleased with that’ or ‘Can you talk us through the second lap?’
It’s also worth considering why a footballer might be careful with his words when a microphone is suddenly shoved in his face. Whenever a player opens his mouth, the tabloids hover like vultures, ready to twist his words to create a back-page splash. So it’s understandable that players prefer to play it safe and hide behind the game’s cliched vernacular rather than risk being dropped in it. Only a stupid person would do otherwise.
Could there also be a degree of jealousy in our perception of footballers? Look at them: they are healthy, rich, often good looking, and adored by millions. Many become millionaires before they’re in their twenties just for kicking a ball around. What a life. I think a lot of people are so envious that they console themselves by thinking footballers must be stupid. Those lucky sods can’t have everything, surely?
The third reason is good old social snobbery. Young working-class men kicking a ball around for a living? They’re bound to be a bit dim, the snobs think. This perception has increased since middle-class fans started to attend games in greater numbers in the 1990s. Faced with a pitch full of millionaires who came from a much less privileged start than them, some fans can’t help but turn up their noses. Assuming footballers are thick is a coping mechanism.
Interestingly, the one exception to the ‘thick’ assumption seems to be for footballers from Europe. A lot of people assume that a Dutch, French or Italian footballer is intelligent as quickly as they assume a British footballer isn’t. It’s football’s version of the ‘French people are soooo much better than us at everything’ mantra of the middle-class Remainer.
Comments