Thirty days. That is the sentence the Portuguese Football Federation handed down to Cristiano Ronaldo for leaving international camp last month, along with a fine of £215, which is roughly what a man of his means spends on a dinner he does not finish. The punishment is written in the rulebook. The consequences, apparently, are not.
Because the country has not stopped shaking. Commentators on three networks have called the absence a national emergency. One parliamentary committee has been overheard using the phrase “constitutional question” in the tone usually reserved for floods. Nobody has yet explained how a national side is supposed to survive a month without its most famous striker, and the café owners of Lisbon have quietly stopped putting his photograph on the wall.
The proposed amendment was drafted in a single afternoon by people who had clearly been waiting for an excuse. It would require any player with a following the size of a small continent to attend camp in person, sign the attendance form in triplicate, and promise not to vanish in the middle of a qualifier.
The fine is £215. The amendment will cost the state considerably more. Portugal, it turns out, can be shaken after all. It just needed a man who wanted a holiday.