Och aye I love Paragu... I mean England
“I like English people, some of my best friends are English.” Thus speaks the best Paraguay-supporting tennis player to come out of Scotland since Robert the Bruce played hide and seek in caves. Wimbledon is here and Andy Murray is eulogising about ‘England love’ and the launch of his new range of Fred Perry tennis clothes.
Fred Perry is one of the few English brands to support Murray but it is undoubtedly a good fit for the brand. Like it or lump it but Murray is all that stands between us and Andrew Castle style wild card in/ first round exit ignominy. To celebrate this Murray has ‘worked with’ the design team at Fred Perry to come up with some new tennis clobber. You have to wonder what input he had, maybe he suggested it was white and put a Highland Spring logo on the side.
To be honest I never really had a problem when he came out and said he’d support Paraguay against England in the 2006 World Cup. Denying him his right as a Scotsman to dislike the English footy team would be like moaning about sharks because they like meat. Disliking John Terry doesn’t make you a bad person, far from it in fact.
Hence a disappointment that he’s come out with all this pro-English stuff in the press. There is something profoundly sad about it, kind of like seeing a poodle with a shaved arse and a perm.
Next time I want one with a three lions badge
But this is not an anti-Murray rant. Speaking positively from a marketing point of view there’s one massive factor in his favour.
He’s not Tim Henman.
And in that he has something in common with all of us that we should be thankful for. Henman’s Ariel ads are a lesson in the dangers of using sportsmen for advertising. It is impossible to watch them without feeling a surge of sympathy for the creative team and the director and the doomed blood out of stone attempt to make Tim seem slightly less dull than a tailor’s dummy.
Say what you like about their respective strengths as tennis players but Murray could definitely do a better Ariel ad. Still, by toeing the line and being nice about the English means he has arguably become a little more ‘Henmanesque’. For us and all those Paraguayan tennis fans, let’s just hope he doesn’t choke on Centre Court this month.
Comments
Hope he loses. A slick rebrand of this twit doesn’t convince me.
Too good for you, Steve?
Why can’t he simply be Scottish and wear his Tartan shorts? Who needs him. It’s only tennis.
At least they’ve retouched out some of his zits and had the good sense to shoot him with his mouth shut. No amount of photoshop will disguise those ugly gnashers.
Henman was in Ariel ads, not Persil. Persil is more discerning than that!
Fair play Tom, you’re absolutely right. I must change it before Unilever’s lawyers come a calling.
Whoa! So much venom guys…whatever happened to supporting your fellow man, your country man at that, seeing as he represents Great Britain?
Why don’t we spend time celebrating his immense drive and focus, his victory at Queens only last Sunday - and our first for 71 years…remember that?! Yes, he’s a little sullen but he’s making British sports history.
Sorry Bella but I must correct you, he is representing Scotland and he has always been pretty clear about that even now.
Why the hell do we bother with tennis in this country? The LTA, heavily subsidised by the government (£46 million in 2006 I believe), pours good money after bad into a sport that has provided the average man on the street with little or no entertainment for the last 70-odd years. We’ve even been forced to import really mediocre foreigners (step forward Greg Rusedski) to try to get a man in the Wimbledon final, but to no avail. For God’s sake we were even encouraged to cheer for “Tiger” Tim Henman, the least aptly nicknamed man in the history of the world!
As far as Murray goes, he’s made his position very clear in the past. He sees the English as the “auld enemy” and probably has pictures of William Wallace blu-tacked to his bedroom wall. Fair enough. But, please don’t ask us to come and support you because, quite frankly I’ll be cheering for whoever your playing against you surly faced, droning Scottish bore.
Fred Perry kits looks OK if you want to look like a Eton schoolboy from the 50’s off on an exeat weekend at Cecil Ponsomby-Smythe’s country estate, but I for one won’t be buying any until they tie up with Gwen Stefani again… now she looks good in this kit!
But Geoff, it’s GB not Scotland that’s after his name in the rankings table, so (officially) he plays for Great Britain, and for that I support him. I don’t love the guy but I respect him. Nadal is my favourite player, he’s great to watch and such an animal on court - not refined like Federer. But they’re not playing for my country so ultimately would always prefer my country man to win…and with Murray, we have the best chance of holding our tennis heads up than we’ve had for a long, long time, which the LTA must be relieved about.
Overall, let’s try and accept people’s differences, their motivations and recognise/respect those that have drive, determination to succeed in whatever they do so long as it’s not at the expense of others. Yes, Murray may well say he’s representing Scotland, at least he’s open about it. But for me, I’ll stick with what’s on the T-shirt - GB!
Dear dear, such uninformed twaddle. He never wore a Paraguay shirt and only responded to a (jokey) comment by journo Des Smith & Tim Henman about “What will you be doing during the world cup as Scotland are hopeless and never made it” by saying “supporting whoever England are playing)… again jokingly. Also did you know that he is not being paid by Fred Perry…. as a thank you to supporting him as an up and coming player……celebrity sellout!!! hhhmmmmmmmm