‘With his money, I could afford to be depressed’: markets, masculinity and mental distress in the English football press

In mid-September of 2002, Nigel Miller, a custody sergeant in the Durham Constabulary in the northeast of England, was off work, suffering from stress. He was nevertheless given permission to act as assistant referee in a Premiership football match between Leeds United and Manchester United. The British popular press reacted with some indignation. ‘He’s not fit to patrol the streets’, scoffed an editorial in the Sun, ‘—but he’s perfectly well enough to run the line at the Leeds v Manchester United match. How much more stress can you get than making split-second judgments on whether Beckham and Co are offside or not?’ (18 September 2002, 8).