Narco Van Basten

While the World Health Organization warns of a worrying pandemic of prejudice against people with disease, we were witness to a brazen sample of what is to come for people with anything from Hansen’s to Crohn's to HIV. Marco Van Basten proved that sickness prejudice is still the norm in football when he benched Ryan Babel against Romania.

Ryan Babel is the young Liverpool winger who was self-diagnosed with Trypanosoma. The African Sleeping Sickness has cost Babel much, including his dignity. After arriving late for training multiple sessions during this international break due to the condition, which is rare in people who have never been to Africa and have never come into contact with a Tsetse fly, he was demoted to the bench by the insensitive Van Basten.

While teammate Wesley Sneijder described his chancre, the distinctive bite, as pimple-like, all of his Dutch teammates are resolute in their support of the young player who is expected to die within months of the rare disorder. His hypersomnolence has united a team, once known for its in-fighting and squabbling, against their prejudice coach, whom they now refer to as "Narco" Van Basten.

In the meantime, with nothing better to do, Rafael Benitez has complained vociferously about the treatment of his players by Tsetse flies and wonders why England doesn’t have plan of action against the deadly disease like Spain.