Following on from my previous blog about Arsenal captain William Gallas, and after further research, Bolton Wanderers footballer El-Hadji Diouf also deserves applause for his aims over the past two months to help raise money for charity.
The Dioufy Foundation aims to help people in the Sengalese striker's childhood home, Dakar, and in his current home city, Bolton and will hold a series of fundraising concerts, friendly matches and dinners to help raise funds for hospitals and new sports facilities. It's more great news for football to see a player who, like Gallas, has reached the top level of the game and neither let the wages go to his head or forget his roots.
I feel at this point that I must verify that I do not think it is a footballer's obligation to help charities and similar causes. It is obviously not their fault that they are paid such high wages and they should not be punished for this like criminals are with community service. They also need sufficient money to cover the fact that football is a sport where most retire at around the age of 35. However, many are overpaid even taking that into consideration. I also cannot help thinking that there is something morally wrong with someone earning such a huge amount of money to do something they enjoy each week not to help those in poverty or donate just a little to charity.
(Picture from: www.football.co.uk)
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