Wayne Rooney and Steven Gerrard dodge England backlash as £10m A:3K skills show is ditched

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England's woeful World Cup performance has led to a multi-million pounds skills extravaganza featuring Wayne Rooney and Steve Gerrard being ditched.

The A:3K event, which was due to take place at London's O2 Arena a week after the World Cup Final on July 17, is now being postponed until next summer.
England captain Gerrard and striker Rooney were behind the shock decision because they felt it was inappropriate to be taking part in such an event following the debacle in South Africa.

Along with Gerrard and Rooney, the other world stars taking part were Cristiano Ronaldo, Didier Drogba, Cesc Fabregas and David Villa.


Dream line-up: Cesc Fabregas, David Villa, Cristiano Ronaldo, Didier Drogba, Steven Gerrard and Wayne Rooney pose in the promotional shot for A:3K

All have had World Cups ranging from disappointing to downright awful apart from Spain's Villa, whose goal against Portugal last night took Spain into the quarter finals.
The supposed super six were being paid £500,000 each for competing in a series of skills challenges in front of a live audience for two hours.

Terry Byrne, A:3K director, said 'Both Steven Gerrard and Wayne Rooney have made it clear they believe it would be inappropriate for them to participate in A:3K at this time.

'We fully understand and respect both players’ decisions. We could have replaced them with two other players but feel the players involved are six of the best in the world - and that is what we promised we would deliver.
'Having consulted all parties involved, everyone agreed the only decision possible was to postpone the event until next summer when we intend to deliver the same six player line-up. Our priority right now is to our customers who have purchased tickets.

'We will be offering a full refund or the option to keep the tickets for next year’s event. Once again all of us at A:3K would like to apologise to our customers, our partners and stakeholders for any inconvenience caused by the postponement.'

Rob Hallett, president of promoters AEG Live, said: 'As a football fan I totally understand and respect Steven and Wayne’s decision to postpone their involvement in A:3K until next year. We look forward to hosting the event at the O2 Arena on the rescheduled date in June 2011.'