Didier Drogba

He falls on the floor at the mere fluttering of a butterfly in his vicinity; I'm not too keen on his hair and he plays for the team that grates on me more than any other. Chelsea apply a cheese-grater to anything but cheese and cheese-graters need to be kept to cheese or they become very irritating. Crystal Palace should be the team that incurs my wrath the most, but their inconsistency and regular comical defeats amuse me rather than frustrate me, but the dour blue-shirted trophy-laden anti-f00tballers consume me with a rage unlike any other football team. And Mr Drogba with his histrionics and non-conformist striking ways is almost as bad as that Frank chap. I recognise that their ability is part of what angers me. If they were rubbish, I'm sure I wouldn't mind them so much.

Yet (this small three-lettered word represents a drastic mood lurch), Didier is a man to be admired in some respects. Five years ago Ivory Coast qualified for their first ever World Cup and their talismanic striker, DD who had been instrumental in their success, used the euphoric moment to bring a political shift that helped (how much help is impossible to measure) bring about peace in his homeland. As the cameras came into the changing room after the game Drogba sank to his knees and begged the warring factions in the Civil War that had been raging in the Ivory Coast for five years to lay down their arms. Within a week peace had been found and the leaders of the warring factions stood side by side at an African Nations Cup two years later in 2007, a moment when Drogba felt that Ivory Coast had been reborn.

Drogba is maligned regularly by the press and supporters - my opening rant is an example of that - and is surprising that this incredible and powerful act has not been focussed on more to bring a balance to his oddly marred reputation. He will continue to frustrate me because he doesn't need a strike partner, because he scores goals that make me unhappy, because he doesn't always seem to play fair, but more important than that is that he is a man who is passionate about peace and has made his voice heard to bring it about. That's more important than football.