David Leggat: No turning back the clock - but a quiet word would be nice

Imagine you're David Beckham. Photo / Herald on Sunday

Imagine you're David Beckham.

No seriously, just for a moment.

You've played 115 times for your country, become one of the most recognisable faces on the planet - far outweighing your claims to sporting fame, but leave that aside for now - and have an extravagant, high-wattage lifestyle.

And you are 35, getting over a lengthy Achilles tendon injury. You will be 39 by the time of the next World Cup - or 37 if you prefer, when Euro 2012 is being hosted by a strange bedfellows Poland and the Ukraine.

You remain a person of huge interest to those with a fascination for celebrity culture, not to mention the footballing fraternity. Then this week, Beckham was told by England's embattled coach Fabio Capello that his national team days were over.

It came in the lead-up to England's friendly against Hungary. And it came not in a one-on-one chat he might have expected, but in a TV interview. So England at large found out at the same time as the player who launched a thousand hairstyles that his time was up.

Later Capello suggested Beckham would be given an appearance in a friendly match "to say bye-bye and thank you very much".

Beckham has always said he would not retire from England duty while he was still playing competitively, if the Los Angeles Galaxy can be so called. Someone allegedly close to Beckham then said that was not going to happen.

"It would seem strange to say you are not retiring then to signal your retirement in a benefit match," the "person familiar with Beckham's plans" added.

This is the same Capello who insisted after Beckham was ruled out of the World Cup that he could still play in Euro 2012 "because he is always one of the best players".

Capello, who was Mr Italian Cool as he steered England through their World Cup qualifying programme, is now derided after a series of PR gaffes. But that's to digress.

The point is should a player of high status get a quiet call in advance when the boss is preparing for life without him, or her?

Two examples hurtle to mind. At some point, Ruth Aitken, coach of the Paeroa High School netball team when Silver Ferns duties allow, will have to decide Irene van Dyk's best days under the hoop are over.

It may be Aitken's successor, depending on how long she wants - and is wanted - to stay in charge.

Van Dyk has been a towering presence in the Silver Ferns. Her international career has stellar writ large across it. But as Mick Jagger once sang, "time waits for no one", although the 67-year-old knight has done his best to slow the ticking clock.

Van Dyk is 38. The world champs are in Singapore next June. There have been noises that that would be an appropriate time to go, in a sport which works on a four-year cycle, worlds to worlds. She has evidently been suggesting she's going nowhere until someone ousts her on merit.

What if van Dyk heard on TV she'd been given her notice? Would she have merited a courtesy call from the coach?

A few seasons ago, New Zealand's most capped player, Lesley Rumball, was quietly advised that her services were no longer needed. Cue a retirement announcement.

Then there was Wayne Shelford, the grand daddy of all dramatic dumpings in New Zealand sport. The inspirational No8 was axed after two tests against Scotland in mid-1990. His record? Fourteen tests as leader, 13 wins and a draw.

It led to the most enduring banner in support of a fallen hero. "Bring Back Buck" bizarrely still pops up at sports grounds round the globe when New Zealand teams are playing.

The selectors figured a terrific All Black pack might struggle to make it to the World Cup late the following year without a tune up.

Shelford got a call and in a roundabout way received advance warning, although it was by all accounts far from a simple, clear advisory.

So at what point does an athlete receive a courtesy call? Years of service? Number of appearances? Or should it depend on the personality of the athlete?

No fixed rule might be the best approach. Did Beckham deserve a call from a man in badly broken English first?

Probably - but either way Goldenballs won't get a chance to become Oldenballs.