Heroes? I don’t think so.

They are NOT heros, just a group of overpaid prima donnas who lost a football match

Well at least G S wont go hungry apparently been offered free pizzas for life Im sure he needs them
!

My Mum was my hero.

She raised me well and against all the odds.

Could we not just call them talented sports people or footballers, rated the word hero for the football team.

A few years ago there was an outbreak of Ebola in Kigali. Knowing the horrendous death they would face if they caught this disease, the doctor in charge of the hospital there called together his staff and told them they could leave if they wanted to.

If I remember rightly none did; they stayed to assist the afflicted. The doctor himself died of Ebola along with most of the staff.

The media barely covered this story but these, along with many brave rescue workers, are my heros and heroines!

Please let's get this into perspective, Sportspersons are playing a game. Great if they are playing at a high level of skill but heroes they are not. They are not putting their life on.the line. They are very good at one set of skills and if they are playing at a national or international level they are paid at levels most people could only dream about. Let's celebrate and acknowledge real heroes and heroines not just people who are very good at a particular sport.

It is a misuse of the word but I have been trying to think of an alternative for people who have done better than expected and made people feel better for a while but not actually won. Someone you want to give a pat on the back to but not a crown and that would fit in a headline.
Trier is the only word I can think of but that doesn't really work.
So, not hero - but what?

The divers that brought the Thai boys out of the cave are heroes.

Well, all I can say is there is a lot I admire about that team. I know they are paid a lot but they showed a lot of skill and expertise. Like the dancers at the ROH when I saw Swan Lake. How do they do it? Years of training and practice.
My heroes? Wellington, Churchill, and all the people who get up early to work in our NHS.

I'm not interested in competitive sports or in football. In international competitions, I don't like the way it all morphs into a display of so-called patriotism, often accompanied by a degree of animosity towards other countries, with much hysteria and flag waving, and sometimes hooliganism. I have, though, dipped in a couple of times during this World Cup.

I have much admiration for this young team and for most of the footballers competing for other countries too. From what I've read, and from the little that I saw, the majority played in a sportsmanlike way.

I think the English team played well. I do not, however, think they are "heroes" but it is not their fault that they have been described as such. They probably don't see themselves as heroes. It is just the usual media hype.

Heroes ? Words fail me, thankfully, or I would be booted off here.

So there are heroes in all walks of life? Sports heroes, political heroes, where else?

As I have already stated earlier in the thread - the England World Cup footballers are heroes to many, many people. Maybe not to you paddyann, or many others who have posted here, but if they are seen as heroes by other people then you can't take that away from them, no matter what you say.
So heroes they are......... all be it sporting heroes.............and that's the end of it!!!

they are footballers they are paid exceptionally well to do a job ..end of.Heroes they are not.

And I am pleased to see the headline in Friday's Times: "Southgate rejects idea of England as heroes".

On further reflection, does the problem lie with the same noun being used to describe someone who performs heroically, in the manner I sought to describe in my earlier post, and someone who performs an act of heroism, such as acting as a human shield?

Leaving aside the dictionary definitions, isn't the essence of performing heroically, and by extension of being a hero, acting in a manner above and beyond what is expected of the person or team concerned? Heroes don't necessarily win, or if they do they win against the odds. Roger Federer and Serena Williams aren't heroes but superstars. An unseeded nonentity who takes them to the very edge of defeat performs heroically, irrespective of whether he or she wins or loses. Sporting heroes have probably been around since the original Olympic Games.

The word is overused, like so many in our hyperbolic world, but nobody is suggesting that football "heroes" are somehow more worthy than firefighters or cave rescuers.

Take a work situation and you needed some work done by a deadline and you were running late and a work colleague offers to help you you might say ‘ thank you you ve saved my life (obviously not really) you’re a real hero’

A hero can be someone who has done something outstanding but not necessarily dangerous or life threatening
I would think a hero can go from the highest accolade ie a war hero or a life saving hero, to someone who does an every day difficult job ie a nurse or paramedic or to a much lower class of hero ie a sports personality or someone else who has done their job exceptionally well
It’s a word that can have many different meanings to many different people

Not for me, I cannot see heroism in a footballer ,

I don’t think anyone was comparing . Just saying there are different kinds of hero’s .

Agree not ageee

No one has a list and I know you don’t care but there are different kinds of hero’s whether you ageee or not .

I don’t care Gilly, I cannot compare a footballer or any sports person with men of WW1 and WW2 and other wars ,

Elvis Presley a hero? why not add him to the list

The dictionary disagrees with you Annie .