Football has a remarkable ability to get exercised over nothing, and the reaction to the upcoming Pointless Friendly between England and the USA is among the most needless passions of the year. Wayne Rooney is to be given a farewell cap at Wembley against the States on November 15th.
The game is designed to raise funds for charity, to the extent that the game has been titled the Wayne Rooney Foundation International.
The English meedja have been busy wringing their hands over the whole event, with many of the country's Top Football Writers decrying Her Majesty's Southgate's decision to dole out an easy cap, a move supposedly at odds with England's new era.
This, to us, seemed like a gross over-reaction: the game does not matter in the slightest - plus England will probably win it even with Rooney, as the United States are so bad at the moment that they even lost to Ireland this year - and is a way of honouring Rooney's contribution to international football and a way of raising money for charity.
So, amid the lack of actual outrage over the game, the FA have now managed to go and stir a bit of genuine controversy.
In spite of the fact that the title of Rooney's foundation is being used to shift tickets for the game, the FA are not planning to donate any portion of their income from the game to Rooney's foundation per Martyn Ziegler of
Per the Times report, the FA are expecting to rake in £3 million from the game, and at the moment there are no plans to donate any portion of the gate receipts nor make a payment to the foundation after which the game is called. Instead, there will be bucket collections outside the ground, and fans will be encouraged to donate to the foundation via text and online. The FA said it would also donate signed England shirts to the foundation and hold a gala dinner at the stadium next year.
In spite of that, no money from the game will be donated directly, although given that this will provoke a big reaction, that decision may soon be reversed.
[The Times]
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