Is it vignettes of a Tiger Woods déjà vu?
Jack Grealish allegedly crashed his £80,000 Range Rover at 8am on Sunday.
So what’s the big deal? Accidents do and can happen to anyone at any time. In this incident, it’s more a matter of how it happened. And why it should not have happened. Read on.
Cool Jack is claimed to have reversed his trusty steed, a 4×4 Range Rover, from a designated parking bay across the road and hit a parked silver van that reportedly ended up with a dented bumper and smashed rear lights.
Witnesses at the scene claimed to The Sun that Jack’s car then drove another 200 yards, veered onto the pavement and ran smack into a £30,000 silver C-Class Mercedes, as well as a £20,000 blue Mercedes.
Apparently, that wasn’t all the damage that was done as the Range Rover subsequently also crashed into iron railings in front of an estate agency. It finally came to rest, parked astride double yellow lines in front of apartments with pictures showing damage to the rear of the vehicle to boot.
Pictures actually show the hot Aston Villa captain casually decked out in his own rendition of the ideal party clothes, in a comportment of shorts and a hoodie with just one black slipper and a white slip-on sandal as footwear, engaging in a vocal altercation with witnesses, with one resident claiming the erstwhile captain had been partying all night at the Dickens Heath, West Midlands.
The neighbour said:
‘The party had been going on all night. It was unbearable. The noise had only stopped a short while when, just after 8am, there were a series of almighty collisions which reverberated through the flats.
‘Outside, Jack Grealish was stood next to his car rowing with a security guard. It was strange to see an England ace looking so unkempt and dishevelled. He looked unsteady and confused.’
So, again, what’s the fuss?
Firstly, we are all in the middle of a clamp-down in the midst of a colossal, never-before life-or-death viral pandemic that’s wreaking a massive and continuing trail of death and infestations around the world.
Jack, being the captain of Aston Villa, is supposed to be a man vested with authority and exercising discipline as a role model to the public. He, of all people, is surely aware of what all this means and should have been home and not out at his partying best, or worst as events turned out.
Secondly, he trashed a few vehicles but, thankfully, did not endanger any lives in the process despite having been reckless. The consequences could have been dire. Yet, instead of being remorseful and instantly proffering his most humble and sincerest apologies for having caused the chain of accidents, he entered into a row with a security guard who was only trying to do his job as a watchman.
And then he, according to reports, boasted to motorists he would pay for the damage before leaving details with a resident and walking away before the police arrived.
This clearly shows a lack of accountability on his part as a highly-paid person in a position tasked with responsibilities and accountability. He clearly flouted the lockdown rules, not to mention the social distancing.
Last but not least, the hypocrisy is what stands out irrefutably as the accident happened only just hours after Grealish had urged people to stay at home to help combat the coronavirus. And yet he himself was out in his odd assortment of party digs until 8am? It is truly difficult to let this one slide.
At least Tiger was truly remorseful for his actions and took full responsibility and accountability for his lamentable actions. This is what makes the difference between a truly great athlete and an upstart thinking he has the world in obeisance at his feet.
It’s the humility and the total lack of hypocrisy that make us continue to marvel at the true greatness of the golfer when compared to the incident involving this recalcitrant footballer.
After all, to err is human. But to be defiant and arrogant when we err, that’s a different thing altogether.