GrannyGate

Following on from Channel 5, was the story and especially the article in the Daily Mirror (19th September) about Stephen Ireland – Manchester City midfielder. He told his manager that his Grandma had died and he would have to miss an important game (Ireland Vs Czech Republic). However, said Granny was still alive so he said it was his other Granny. She too is still alive. The real reason behind his wanting to miss the game was that his girlfriend had suffered a miscarriage and he felt that this would not be taken seriously enough for him to be allowed to fly home to be with her.

As the article states; A miscarriage. The loss of a baby. Something that deeply affects anyone who’s ever gone through it but often seems to be regarded as little more than a passing inconvenience by those who haven’t. The article goes onto say it is an indictment of our game that an intelligent man like Ireland didn’t think a miscarriage would be accepted as a decent enough reason to miss a big match. So this footballer…spun a web of lies that turned him into a laughing stock at a time when he was at his most vulnerable……Then he was left out of City’s game against Aston Villa on Sunday and it was interpreted as a punishment. A punishment for a miscarriage.

The article ends who knows what’ll happen the next time a footballers wife has a miscarriage? Who knows whether he’ll have the confidence to say he needs some time out to try to deal with it? What he won’t say is that his gran just died. The greater danger is, he won’t say anything at all.