Good afternoon.
The only real story of the weekend is the aftermath of the John Terry trial. A lot of people have approached this rather naively armed only with popcorn waiting to find out if the King Of The Chavs was officially a racist or still just only an unofficial one.
Football isn’t isolated in sport in that it’s dominated by people that aren’t mentally gifted in a conventional, academic sense. Anyone who caught a clip of a boxer speaking this weekend can vouch for that.
History has demonstrated that what you need more than a university education is that thing lovingly referred to as a footballing brain. Terry is undoubtedly a gifted footballer, but a non runner in the human race. The litany of abysmal goings on that have surrounded him both on and off the pitch for years are well documented.
Modern football is the biggest thing on the planet outside of Islam. Beamed seemingly into every dwelling on the planet from the two up two downs of old England, onto plasma tellys in the world’s most expensive hotels, into communal sets under corrugated sheets in the ‘developing world’.
- Former Sheffield United player Ched Evans was jailed for raping a 19 year old girl last April.
- Luis Suarez recently earned himself an 8 match ban and £40,000 fine for racially abusing Patrice Evra.
- Danny Hylton of Aldershot Town was suspended for the first eight games of the 2012/13 season after being found to have racially abused opponents twice against Barnet; actions which led to a brawl at the end of the game for which both clubs were fined.
- Wayne Rooney received a 2 game ban for swearing down a Sky Sports camera live at a game against West Ham.
I pick these examples from hundreds simply to illustrate that no matter what level they are at, the top or the bottom, many footballers think they can do what they want.
Be it whizzing in a pint pot in a nightclub, engaging in group sex (preferably whilst being filmed on a mobile phone) or parking a sports car in but a humble disabled bay; many footballers think they can do what they want.
The summing up of Judge Howard Riddle in the Terry case was a thoroughly miserable read. The unrelenting hate of the language. But what was almost as miserable as plowing through the weasel like defense of Terry was the revelation by the Judge that Aton Ferdinand clearly did not wish to be participating in the trial.
Do I want football sanitised? No, of course not. But I want those who pollute the game routinely punished. These scumbags need to be reminded that being on a football pitch or being associated with the game – they are still subject to the laws of the land like the rest of us. What’s at the centre of this isn’t some two bob blogger getting his knickers in a twist about half a dozen uncouth millionaires.
These people are cultural icons for countless millions. If Lionel Messi is shown sipping a Pepsi, people buy more Pepsi. If Gary Lineker is shown eating crisps people buy more crisps. The influence isn’t imagined. It’s very, very tangible. It’s not a seedy underbelly, acting disgracefully is now part and parcel of ‘the game’.
The Adebayor song wasn’t just racist, it was pitifully sad. The ‘Sol Campbell song’ is equally nasty. And I think this week football has stumbled to a crossroads. We can take the path of denial. This is where we don’t accept the throwing of bananas, but it’s ‘ sort of okay’ to call someone a black ____ in the heat of the moment.
The alternative path is zero tolerance. In whatever small way you can help football take that path, I urge you to do so.
bacon face has told the squirrel man he can be sold for 5 mill ,WOODJA :daumen:
http://www.footylatest.com/billionaire-investor-calls-on-fans-to-help-fund-a-move-for-tottenham-ace/30395
Great article HH, and may I join the umpteen millions of people to have decried John Terry as being a terrible embarrassment to football, England, and the human race.
The only people to disagree with this of course are the men of great moral fibre who chant “CFC CFC!” through the minute’s silence in tribute to those who lost their lives at Hillsborough at this year’s FA Cup semi final.
Is it any wonder that the nouveau Chelsea fans that have mysteriously popped up post 2003 behave such a way with this man as their standard bearer?
It was worse than that mate, it was “murderers, murderers” they were chanting.
SCUM
AVB inspired by Tottenhams history,tradition and Bill Nicholsons legacy and aims to duplicate it.Now transfer that attitude to the players,sorted.
This is what I have been waiting to hear from a manager for years. :winke: :-D :lol: :daumen:
Triffic… :daumen:
Top, Top….errrrr…top!
top top ginger for sure and a family man,good to have around the place.
He’s not ginger..
I think he is one of 2 types of ginger,depends which ginger type you are referring to.
Autumn sunrise is what my old nan used to call it…
autumn sunrise and ginger beer :hae:
I like Catherine Tates take on it
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_DVHUEjnuU
and also this one on of all things discrimating about Tottenham….
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ldZhlTc8k_E
Great article hh.
Football reflects society. All the ills of society are there to be seen.
Money arrogance ignorance drugs cheating low moral fibre all mixed in with the majority of footballers who are a credit also to their profession.
Problem being is if you take a bunch of working class boys from wherever and they win the lottery and are also put on an adulation pedestal its all to easy to turn out like the aforementioned players. There are 4 players I can’t stand and 3play for chelscum and one for utd. Pretty much why I find it hard to follow England wholeheartedly. Imo all wrong-uns no matter what walk of life they find themselves in.
Some footballers are despicable human beings.
Coys