Andrew Flintoff – From ShipFaced to Shamefaced
FROM “SHIP FACED” to shamefaced, England cricketer Andrew Flintoff tells of “MY HURT”.
“FLINTOFF: MY SHAME,” says the headline. “I’M PAYING PRICE FOR HIGH JINKS.”
Not that high, though – this is no tale of England’s great all-rounder inhaling the local fumes. This is not Ian Botham and so much Hashes To Ashes in 1986.
This is not Botham, who tells the Sun: “I’m laughing. I find it all quite amusing.” Of course, Botham may find all manner of things amusing since those heady days of the mid-80s.
But Flintoff is not laughing. “I should not have done what I did and there are no excuses,” says he. “It was unnecessary high jinx and I have had to accept the consequences… All I can say is sorry.”
No laughing.
No laughing as Flintoff drinks amid team-mates and fans on the strip in St Lucia. No laughing as Flintoff pushes a pedalo into the sea at 4am and sets sail. No laughing as Flintoff falls off said pedalo.
You can imagine the stony-faced silence as England’s most recognisable and likeable player threatens to go down with his tiny canary yellow ship. How shocked the sober fans looking on much have been.
To prove just how serious this matter is, the Mirror, in an exclusive not altogether unlike the Sun’s exclusive, hears from one horrified England supporter. “I watched as my heroes disgraced themselves in a marathon drinking binge,” says he. “I’ve spent thousands on this trip…I’m absolutely sickened.”
That’s what you get for being in England’s self-styled Barmy Army. You get to feel sick.
“LEGLESS BEFORE WICKET,” says the headline. England players Jon Lewis (pictured dancing!), Ian bell (sitting!) and James Anderson (WIDE EYED”, as a flash gun explodes in his face) are fined and shamed.
But the headlines belong to Flintoff. This is the Mail’s “Shaming of Freddie”. This is Freddie who is now stripped of the vice-captaincy and left out of the England team that took on and beat the might of Canada.
Flintoff on front page and back page. Flintoff hugging the Mail for dear life as his pedalo bobs away…
Flintoff not laughing so hard that he threatens to burst a rib and swallow so much sea…
Posted: 19th, March 2007 | In: Back pages Comments (4) | TrackBack | Permalink
