Perhaps, I should say that media have begun to color
Emmanuel Emernike - bad! The once celebrated Nigeria international striker is
now being misconstrued at every action taken in the last three years or so.
First, he was accused of match fixing, but later found not guilty. Then he was
said to be ritualist . He needs a fresh sacrifice to start scoring again.
At the weekend, Istanbul fans booed him to scorn
with racist chants, after he missed what seemed to be a glaring chance at goal.
But when Emernike rent his jersey to show his displeasure, not even teammates
or club management seemed to understand his frustrations.
It does happen! Crisis may come anytime in your
professional football career. I think the tide turned against Emernike when he
couldn’t live up to his billings or enact the kind of scoring form that got him
the transfer deal from Spartak Moscow to Fenerbahce Istanbul.
Sincerely, it may not be his making, any player can
loose form at anytime. He may have desperately tried to up his game, but who is
ready to accept his failure to perform or understand his present situation.
Maybe you know someone who can plea his cause and
get all the stakeholders to understand Emernike’s situation right now. It’s the
job of a public relations manager, who can evaluate public attitude towards a
player, identifies actions and reactions and execute a set of programs to earn
public understanding and acceptance.
In this age of media paparazzi, one can only wonder how shortsighted players can be when they leave themselves open for negative for media stories that greatly affect public opinion and consequently, their football career. Every professional footballer should have a public relations (PR) expert by his side.
A PR manager can assist a professional footballer like
Emernike in three ways:
1. Media
Relations: Public opinion is one of the most powerful forces
in our society, and media relations are designed to formulate and shape favorable
opinion via mass media.
A PR manager often largely deal with media,
developing statistics and providing information (publicity, Video clips..) to
the media in order to gain increased and positive media exposure for his
player. And in time of crisis, the PR manager douse off the effect by helping
player build rapport, understanding and sympathy from mass media and the public
at large.
2. Community
Relations: It’s become essential that professional footballers
continually gain positive sentiment from fans and the public at large. It
require a community relations effort initiated by the player, which involves
pre and post match interview, public appearances in community project or fun
fairs and most importantly ‘giving back’ project to the community such as –
donating to community health care, education, charity and infrastructural
developmental projects. A PR manager guides a player ob how to effectively
execute these programs to his advantage.
3. Work
Place Relations: It isn’t that easy to play
international football in a foreign country, with players from different
cultural backgrounds. But then, you are required to be a team player and fully
committed to the club’s vision and aspirations.
It requires conscious positive interactions with
teammates and to follow the norms as prescribed by club management. A PR
manager can help a player develop strategies that can encourage such positive
relationships with teammates and club management, especially for a private
person like Emernike.
GreenHunters
Sports International is vast in Public relations matters,
especially as regards to athletes, clubs and associations’promotions. Remember,
the goal of a PR Manager is to earn
public understanding and acceptance in matters concerning his client.
