once more unto the breach dear friends meaning

#Once more unto the breach dear friends meaning professional

So what is character and how is it developed? Character lies within the deeper core of a human being, where existential psychological qualities such as courage, humility, integrity, love and passion reside. Character is a quality acquired over long term periods, is caught not taught and to have good character, one must have solid foundations. In terms of individual players going into battle, the key quality in my opinion is a term often heard when I played, but not as much in the modern day character. One for all and all for one as Alexandre Dumas famously coined! Anyone not prepared to conform to this approach, or toe the line, should be weeded out and removed with immediate effect! In the far too distant past of the 1966 glory, I remember Alan Ball saying that Sir Alf Ramsey’s environment was created with family in mind and that by doing this, everyone stood tight together as a solid unit. It’s absolutely crucial to nurture and restore the operating culture of yesteryear, and make sure all of the players are definitively aware of their roles, responsibilities and freedom to choose the right course of action, especially under the greatest scrutiny of the world’s gaze.

#Once more unto the breach dear friends meaning professional

From a psychological perspective, euphoria, matched by doom and despair is found in human beings who lack a clear sense of deep, personal identity and have low confidence in themselves.Īs an ex professional player and someone who is currently writing a PhD around critical moments and transitions, my first piece of advice as we head into The World Cup would be for Mr Southgate to shield the players from the frail mentality of a proportion of its hugely passionate followers. Sadly, this euphoric view from the fans and media is matched equally by doom and despair when things don’t go our way (more often than not via the penalty spot!). Most of the time when the major competitions kick in, England are fairly strong in the betting markets and expected to challenge, or at least reach the latter stages of tournaments. One of the most challenging aspects faced by England is the fact that many of the people in the media (and amongst the fans!) are always keen to give us a decent chance of doing something (if the qualifying campaign and pre competition friendlies have gone well!). The biggest psychological issue resides with our countries identity as a whole, rather than the players and the coaching staff.

Has this been a fair assumption? In my humble opinion, it hasn’t.

A high percentage of the media, fans and pundits have had a field day, often reaching the conclusions that “we’ve no bottle when the going gets tough” or “the players find it more comfortable and are better suited to club level.” Over the past 52 years much has been written about the failings of the England national team across the major competitions of the World Cup and The Euros. ‘Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more!’ Alan is currently undertaking a PhD on ‘exploring critical moments, identity and meaning amongst professional football players’. He’s since gone into academia and has a Master of Philosophy in Sport Psychology.

By Alan Tonge, lecturer in sport research at the UCFB Etihad CampusĪlan is a former professional himself, having played for Manchester United and Exeter City, before he was forced to retire at the age of 24.