Sporting Gijon’s Javi Poves Denounces ‘Rotten’ Football, Quits Forever And Refuses To Accept His Wages

Chris Wright

11th, August 2011

19 Comments

By Chris Wright

While the young people of Spain continue to protest on the streets against the country’s manifest political corruption, Sporting Gijon defender Javi Poves has taken a moral stand – turning his back on the club and quitting football altogether aged 24, after spending too long in direct contact with the game’s grubby underbelly.

Poves told Spanish paper ABC’s website:

“The more you know about football the more you realise it is all about money, that it is rotten and this takes away your enthusiasm. What point is there is earning €800 or €1,000 if you know that you are obtaining it through the suffering of many people.

“I don’t want to become an icon, I am just one more and I fight against inequality. I want everyone to be equal and that we all unite and stop arguing over trivial matters and try to move forward. As it stands the world is preparing to destroy itself.

“There are certain personalities at a world level, Pele, Ronaldinho, Messi who are ambassadors for UNICEF and who on the face of it are very good, but they could do much more” he added.

“These people have such influence they should involve themselves in a much more direct way.”

El Pais are also reporting that Poves (who has vowed to return to education and ‘offer his help socially’) refused to allow Gijon to pay him the rest of his wages via bank transfer after stating that he wouldn’t allow the Spanish banks to ‘speculate with his money’ and that he also returned the keys to a car that had been provided to him through the club’s sponsors.

Take that ‘The Man’.

Via Daily Telegraph

Posted in La Liga

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19 Comments

  1. Conor O Riordan says:

    Well…….. he does have a very, very good point. I say fair play to the lad.

  2. wiggs says:

    Idiot. Noble, but he’s a fool to think anyone will actually take notice. Take your money from the gift god gave you and spend your 30’s onwards sat on your own private beach.

  3. Ben365 says:

    Give it 6 months and he’ll be a priest!

  4. :) says:

    wow. west ham should try & sign him ;)

  5. Dave says:

    what a moron, spurning the chance of a lifetime that millions would die for.

  6. ricky says:

    He should come and play for Plymouth for free like the rest of our team then

  7. pete says:

    you guys are the idiots that prop of the corrupt systems @dave and wiggs…

    how is footballing a God given gift to make money? football has only existed for under 150 years.

    also, good on him for LEADING BY EXAMPLE. something you (probably racist) cunts wouldn’t know the slightest about. go whine about how the blacks are ruining England why don’t you

  8. RainiaRed says:

    what a man..sad to see what he did was useless, but at least he now can live with himself…it’s very unfair how some footballers (eto, rooney, etc) take more than 200000 a WEEK, while some people dont even have water or food.

  9. Dregs says:

    Respect for anyone who stands up for what they believe in! Good lad!

  10. Del says:

    As already mentioned, noble but foolish. He should return to football at a different club in another country and start afresh.

    And if he thinks Messi and Ronaldinho are the only ones who can make a difference, he’s dead wrong.

    Playing for a top club in one of the best, most watched leagues in the world is no small matter.

    He should continue his job and accept his big ass wages and use it to help the people he’s talking about.
    That way he will set an example and be remembered by many people. This way, unfortunately, his name will disappear into oblivion. :(

  11. Varun says:

    Whats with the kid in the middle of pic.

  12. TheBro says:

    5 stars for guts and strong commitment. But truth be told, dumbest move I’ve seen from a footballer in a LONG time….

  13. Dont worry says:

    sounds like a commy

  14. Doppelganger says:

    Hats off to the boy. Maybe he should now expose the “ugly underbelly” of football that seems to now disgust him so. If there is anything bad happening in football circles that we the people spending our hard-earned little money propping these leagues should know about, then he should publish a tell all book. That would be striking a blow for the poor and disadvantaged. Or maybe he too would be liable for prosecution if the goings-on are illegal?

  15. Infidel says:

    He’d make his point if he were a star making millions, but he’s a nobody making not much more money than he would driving a truck probably.

  16. Montesquieu says:

    @Pete,

    You are an idiot.

  17. mr. football says:

    Oh my god.
    this guy is probably one of the biggest idiots I’ve ever read about.
    what is he trying to say huh? no one will give a s*it about his opinion. he had talent, that’s why he’s in football, some people devote everything to become a professional athlete and finally being shafted. i was so pissed when my little brother decided to quit football, because he was a huge talent and was a key member in his team, but at least he stopped playing when he was 14 years old, not a professional footballer who gave everything to get to where he was at the point of age 24!!!!!
    this guy is really really stupid, i wish him the life of regret,
    let him suffer because he spat at the face of the effort his father probably had put to make him a pro footballer.

  18. mr. football says:

    one last thing,
    OUR WORLD WILL CONTINUE BEING UGLY AND CORRUPT WITH OR WITHOUT YOUR RETIRING YOU STUPID CLOWN.

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