England captain, John Terry, was awarded 'Dad of the Year' a couple of months ago. It would seem only the sporting accolade of leading England is under threat of being rescinded following the murky details of his adulterous affair revealed in the Sun yesterday.
Like many millionaire footballers with a hugely puffed up view of their own importance, Terry thought flashing his fat wallet at the lawyers could make all the media coverage go away. He first ensured his lover, Vannessa Perroncel, was silenced under a confidentiality agreement.
His lawyers' attempt at combining their legalese with Terry's crude West London parlance, resulted in this rather clinical wording. "As a result of my dealings with you there has been speculation of a relationship with you. Whilst I do not make any admission as to the truth or otherwise of such speculation, I do not want such speculation to be disclosed. "
What JT wants, he expects to get, so instructed his lawyers to take out a super-injunction order preventing any articles appearing in the media and even any reporting of the existence of the order. Thankfully, the judge, Justice Tugendhat, thought the arguments for simply protecting Terry's privacy were not proportionate owing to the "fact of the relationship". In other words the Sun had the simple justification of it being a true story.
The lawyers also incurred his Honour's wrath by not even notifying the media about the order which meant the judge, "had not the benefit of arguments in opposition." In refusing the maintainence of the order he added with some irony, " I am not satisfied." Terry with £6m wages a year, a beautiful wife and the pissest of easy jobs in the world could not have put it better.
His lawyers may have had more success if they had followed the example of a Premiership manager who was caught visiting a brothel last month. They argued for defamation not privacy and the press still not dare publish although his identity can revealed in searching for about five seconds in any football chatroom.
But so much for the media's self-congratulation about busting the order. They are also guilty of failing to condemn these incredibly wealthy and arrogant half-wits filling the Premiership. The tone of most coverage implies their celebrity status gifts them additional value as people - disgraceful behaviour, even domestic violence, is labelled mildly as an, "indiscretion".
Here's a perfect example of how the collusion between footballers and the media obscures their utter selfishness and limitless apathy over the lot of the general public. A couple of years ago, all players were universally praised for "digging deep" for nurses. The campaign was for all Premiership players to give only one day's wages to the noble cause.
Far fewer papers covered the outcome which showed precious few fulfilling their widely publicised pledges. Although some clubs like Fulham and West Ham paid in full, Chelsea, led by their "inspirational" captain Terry, gave nothing at all.
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