The downside of "Professional"

I'm not a football fan, but there's something about the FA Cup when the roll of the dice find people who play for money meeting people who play for the love of the game. Watching Gareth Bale warm up in front of the back gardens of houses that had their number on in case he needed to ask for the ball back made me smile, and the sight of Leeds being humbled by a team they may never have otherwise heard of, and whose players earn less in a year than the the Leeds professionals do in a week of was good for the soul.

There is no doubting the skill of the professionals, honed by huge financial and technical support as they distance themselves from their amateur and semi professional brethren. They enter a different world of billionaire sponsors and owners with no connection to the community whose name identifies the club. Beautiful to watch for a short period, but in the same way as a movie. Fantasy masquerading as real life.

it's one thing with sport, but another when the cult of the profess…