The looks of hatred from the crowd (fathers and young sons) beggared belief; their limpid fury, petulant, pathetic yet sadly predictable.Now, I love my football (particularly the FA Cup which dominated our screen this weekend) but I was sickened to watch managers (Dalgleish and Ferguson) and various lame commentators commending the Liverpool fans as a "credit to the club and to themselves" after a large number (a majority?) booed, harangued and insulted an 'injured' man (United's Patrice Evra) who had been proven to have been racially insulted by "one of their own"; Luis Suarez was recently found guilty and banned for eight matches by an independent panel.
After the weekend's tie between Liverpool v Man Utd, Liverpool's manager Dalglish saw "nothing untoward; the fans are entitled to support their team".
I know that the rush for the moral high ground can cripple the possibility for keen eyed, honest debate but; talk about 'mixed messages'.
Sickening; those baying fans demean their club and themselves with the witless chants and brainless 'banter'; and this was a chance for 'King Kenny' to distance himself from the vacuous venom, and yet he saw nothing "untoward". I adored Dalglish as a player; his sublime skills and spacial awareness (literally) set him apart, he had a singular vision; yet as a supposed 'elder statesman' he seems to have inherited that managerial myopia that often clouds the judgement of many 'successful' managers (see also 'Wenger' and 'Ferguson'). He's indifferent to the principles here; just doesn't seem to get it... maybe his refined life has rendered him boorishly loyal, insensitive; unaware of his responsibilities to the game and to the world (beyond the confines of his red kingdom) that watches on. Many might regard his narrow world view as dogmatic Glaswegian integrity but I'm fearful that maybe he's ignorant or just... gormless?
Evra's crime?
He was guilty of doing what is required of anyone who would call themselves 'civilized'; he reported an instance of racial abuse to the authorities.Later, watching the Australian Open, we sat through 6 hours of amazingly high intensity tennis; two sportsmen at the top of their game. "This is a private encounter; man to man" said the smart commentator, "we're just privileged to be allowed to listen in". Agreed; their commitment to the endeavor was amazing; neither blinked until the inevitable wilting after six hours of intense competition.
Well done Nadal and Djokovic.
Bravo.
I love my football, but these two champions put our oft feckless footballers to shame; they honoured their sport but, more importantly, they honoured each other.
Well said my darlin', I couldn't agree more.
ReplyDeleteNow routing for Stoke in the F.A. cup... up the Potters!
xxx
I'm not going to condone it but I'm going to try and explain it. It was always going to happen after the club's official response to the panel's judgement
ReplyDelete'We find it extraordinary that Luis can be found guilty on the word of Patrice Evra alone when no-one else on the field of play - including Evra's own Manchester United teammates and all the match officials - heard the alleged conversation between the two players in a crowded Kop goalmouth while a corner kick was about to be taken.
'It is also our opinion that the accusation by this particular player was not credible - certainly no more credible than his prior unfounded accusations.
'We would also like to know when the FA intend to charge Patrice Evra with making abusive remarks to an opponent after he admitted himself in his evidence to insulting Luis Suarez in Spanish in the most objectionable of terms. Luis, to his credit, actually told the FA he had not heard the insult.'
When this is the club's official line you are bound to end up with what happened on saturday
I'm a Liverpool fan but the way the club's hierarchy have handled the whole thing has been a nightmare of misjudgement after misjudgement.
The fact that the photo you've shown could be replicated in every premiership ground is one of the reasons I'm beginning to fall out of love with the not so beautiful game .... or at least the sky premiership, big 4 . super sunday, best league in the world version of it
Agree that we are losing the beautiful game to cynicism; mainly of the players.
ReplyDeleteAlso things are becoming distorted by over analysis; people do speak out of turn, in the heat of the moment etc; I get that; I used to play rugby to a decent level and know what went on in the (so called) gentleman's game... If any action is analysed in slow motion it distorts reality; therefore (unless it's off the ball skullduggery) we need to trust the vision and the instincts of the folk on site (the ref). It's the same with words; any lame brained comment can be reviewed as insulting; if people choose to find offence they can; it's the corruption of common sense that winds me up; there needs to be intelligent recognition of malpractice.
Regarding fans' behaviour; the idea that 'a group' or crowd hangs up it's moral integrity when wearing 'colours' doesn't wash and excuses the grossest behaviour. It seems that we've got to the point when folk think that the most hurtful thing to say is the best thing to say (or shout); regardless of whether they're sitting next to a kid or not.
Bottom line: we should be able to rely on the integrity of the players (and managers) to set a good example; they don't; they are encouraged to go looking for, and find offence, feign injury; they are dragging the game down instead of elevating it.
Did you watch the Barcelona v Madrid game mid week?
Pathetic.
When you're that good, why do you need to cheat?
I despise it; yet I watch it. Gladiatorial bloodsport?
Now there's another topic that any sociologist would have a field day with (or write a book about).
More than anything I resent the fact that the once beautiful game has reduced me to an inarticulate rambler; spitting feathers, spluttering platitudes, bewildered that someone with a big stick can't sort the whole thing out; ultimately disappointed by people who I'm desperate to admire. That Maradona's got a lot to answer for...
I agree - the point I wanted to make was that due to the clubs official stance and statements in a lot of those fans minds Evra has lied and got Suarez banned - all could have been avoided with a swift explanation and apology direct to Evra , instead liverpool created a circus which sad as it is some fans see as making their response somehow legitimate - which just depresses me immensely about the state of the nation as a whole!
ReplyDeleteMy top 10 current complaints with football (apols for spelling but I'm in rant mode)
1) the general hypocracy of those invovlved with the sport
Hearing commentators rant and rave about diving from a Ronaldo etc yet ignoring it when it is a british player (and when it is so obvious as in Daniel Sturridge the other week then he is young niave and learnt it from those cheating foreigners)
2) the obsession with waving an imaginary card which is somehow deemed worse than shouting send him off in the refs face (again most of the card wavers don't have english as a first language)
3) the fact that John Terry can be an england captain - any other business he'd have been sacked about 10 times already
4) the build them up knock them down mentality of the press wait for Jack Wiltshire to be the next fall guy
5) the obsene amounts of money involved and yet most lower league clubs are on the verge of going out of business
6) the lack of knowledge of the rules of pundits usually built around "but he got the ball" comment
7) the endless calling for consistency in one breath and then the plea for refs to use commen sense on the other
8) the fact that fifa has said brazil must change the laws of their land to allow alcohol to be sold at their grounds at the next world cup "because beer is part of the family of football" and nothing to do with the millions that Budweiser pay to "sponsor" the competition
9) the fact alan shearer hasnt managed to utter a word of insight in the last 5 years
10)the fact that the champions league should be named if you came 4th and are a big club we will still let you in league
but then again ....... Henry scoring on his return , 3- 0 down at half time to AC Milan, the Carlisle goalie scoring in extra time to preserve his team's league status, 5 - 1 germany and 4-1 holland.... and enough drama every sat that I know I'll keep watching
well I feel a bit better now although strangely in need for a beer
I think that you and I should be running the game Dave; a lot of the problems of the game stem from the fact that many of the influential folk are too entrenched in the game to see its problems subjectively. FA 'fat cats' often criticised for not understanding the game "because they never played it" but maybe what the game needs is a dispassionate cold eye.
ReplyDelete- Sturridge's dive was shocking; a mate of mine was at the game; he was winking non stop at the QPR fans after the goal; why has he not been cited?
- I though card waving was an immediate card Why did that stop?
- John Terry is (maybe 'was') a great defender; it also seems that he's an unpleasant, dishonest and spiteful man. An example to our youngsters? English captain should be 'Best of British'; Terry good for the trenches but has made them into a gutter...
- money seems to have replaced passion and integrity
- 'Pundits' ex players with narrow minded view. Experts? Cliches abide as do unfinished, inarticulate sentences... still, it's a working man's game isn't it? Bah...
- Shearer filling Brooking's boots; our Trev was never one for insight; sat on the fence and said nothing of interest; at least he did it with style...
The game can still bedazzle; it just seems that the heroes all arrive in depart in air conditioned vacuum. Where's Alf Tupper when you need him?