Beck-Cam

David Beckham, to the surprise of many, started for Paris Saint Germain in their Champions League match against Barcelona on Tuesday. Beckham has brought his media circus to the French capital since his move from the LA Galaxy. Lucy Howell discusses Beckham’s debut in France, which included a television camera dedicated to him: “Beck-Cam”.

David Beckham made his long awaited debut for French team Paris Saint-German, after he was signed to the club in January. His first game has caused such an overwhelming amount of excitement among supporters that the French TV station Canal+, have dedicated an entire camera just to follow the 37 year old around. Though David Beckham’s fame on the pitch is legendary, this camera will start tracking the ex England captain from the moment stadium, and will then only follow his actions, as David enters onto the pitch for the match.

This may seem a unique way of being assured to never miss any of Beckham’s spectacular playing, the fact that the player spent the first 76 minutes of the match on the bench, meant that some of the insightful highlights that this new camera was able to capture was the exciting moments when David scratched his nose.

True to form, of course, once on the pitch David played with his usual gusto and helped the team to defeat their rivals, Olympique de Marseille, with a 2-0 win.

Beckham’s transfer to PSG has caused excitement for other reasons, besides being able to watch his every move. By playing even 10 seconds of the match, David became eligible to take the English record for having won the most domestic league titles in different countries. He currently shares the role with Trevor Steven, who collected championship medals at Everton, Rangers and Marseille. If he were to win Ligue 1, David would oust Stevens from their shared position, as Beckham has already won title in the Premier League, La Liga and MLS.

The club, unfortunately, has not won the French title since 1994, but is currently leading the Ligue 1 standings with 45 points from 22 games.
Though it is unknown whether the special ‘beck-cam’ will be a feature of every match, the league is definitely going to be an exciting one, with so much riding on it for Beckham. We can only hope that the player does not now spent the rest of the league on the bench, since technically, he has already done enough to fulfill his game eligibility to win the French league’s title.

[Lucy Howell]