Football Is Not A Matter of Life and Death

And No, it’s Not More Important Than That Either



Football Is Not A Matter of Life and Death

Adebayor: No need for Gooners to stoop to the level of others


First up – never confuse me with a liberal. In life, bad things very often happen to good people. Conversely, far too many good things come to those who are bad, so when bad things happen to bad people, don’t waste too much time feeling sorry for them. It is true that, even if you were to discount our partiality to Arsenal Football Club, Emmanuel Adebayor is an individual it is thoroughly difficult, if not impossible, to like – let alone empathise with.

His form for his first two seasons was so frustrating, it led on one memorable occasion to his strike partner, the far more legendary Thierry Henry, to punch the Highbury turf in anger against Aston Villa in 2006. By 2007/08 he finally hit form, however, at the end of which season he repaid his manager’s and Arsenal’s faith by demanding a move to a bigger-name club stating that Arsenal didn’t match his personal ambitions, told Arsenal to ‘show how much we loved him’ in monetary terms, and then, after a season of sulking, left for Manchester City – a side who at this point hadn’t won a trophy for over 30 years nor were competing in the Champions League, but who conveniently agreed to pay him £170,000 of their newly-acquired petrodollars per week.

After scoring in his first match against us, he deliberately ran the length of the pitch to goad the away support, while hiding behind stewards who were injured in the process of protecting him from the angry mob of thousands of travelling Arsenal fans. In the same match he nearly kicked his former team mate, Robin Van Persie’s, eye out of his socket. Off the pitch he’s been involved in an altercation with his then team-mate, and former Arsenal team-mate, Kolo Touré, at City’s training ground. He then tops this off by signing on loan for our bitter rivals up the other end of the Seven Sisters Road. Therefore it is agreed that Emmanuel Adebayor is never going to receive a standing ovation whenever his path crosses Arsenal Football Club.

That said, when it comes to laughing at the misfortune of an individual who is put into a situation where he fears for his safety, well-being, even his life – there is a select band of people for whom I reserve this perverse joy. They tend to be sex-offenders, child-murderers, despots, sex-traffickers, those who indulge in or fund terrorist acts that deliberately target civilians – in essence people who generally prey on and exploit the weak, vulnerable and defenceless (and, before anyone wonders, no: I don’t support capital punishment. I just rejoice at any misfortune experienced by the aforementioned because they are thoroughly bad people). Now, Emmanuel Adebayor is the walking embodiment of everything that’s wrong with 21st century footballers – he is an arrogant, self-serving, mammon-worshipper who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing. For all his faults, though, he is – at least to my knowledge – not any of the aforementioned social pariahs. The fact that he’s disrespected my club doesn’t make it OK for me to rejoice in what was an attempt on his and his team mates’ lives by the gunfire of cowardly terrorists in a terrifying ordeal that lasted for around 20 minutes.

Also, don’t confuse me with some over-sensitive po-faced PC drone. I’ve followed this game long enough to know that prominent opposition players and former Arsenal opposition players habitually receive stick from fans. I’m also aware that this is a fairly tame era when it comes to bad-taste chanting, and well aware that Redknapp’s indignation was largely disingenuous, seeing that we heard little from him when Spurs fans actually invented this chant and, along with the other elephant washing one, sang it long before we actually ever took it up. However, there is a world of difference between this particular chant and others that centre on embarrassing elements of a player’s private life, such as their sexual infidelities, their penchant for paying for sex with grandmothers, or their liking for placing their mobile phones in their rectal orifices. There is, after all, a world of difference between the psychological damage of dying from embarrassment and the psychological damage from nearly dying and seeing acquaintances dying amid a sea of bullets. I doubt any of these fans would dream of taunting a 7/7 survivor who just so happens to support Spurs about his or her ordeal that day and trying to pass it off as ‘banter’, so why do such people think these chants are any different?

It’s not that they lack a moral compass, either. The forum of this site carried a thread that rightly denounced a plankton-brained Spurs troll who tweeted Jack Wilshere to say he wished death on his new-born child, yet some of the very same posters who denounced the idiot were on another thread claiming that the Adebayor chant was fair game, obviously seeing no contradiction in condemning one and condoning the other. Also, the article on this site in October by Mr Burton, which in some way tried to justify the Adebayor chants, was a poorly-written piece, the logic behind which was ill thought out, to say the least. On the mindlessly violent element that follows North London’s lesser club he stated: ‘If I wanted a fight, I would join a boxing club. If you want to fight my team’s Firm, go and do it with them – away from the ground, keeping it between yourselves – but just let us know who wins. Leave me alone. And my mates. And don’t bring blades (only cowards need blades) and, if you are offered a one-to-one, be big enough to take it and don’t say “no, you against six of us”. And don’t hang around on corners with all your mates and wait for the opposition’s fans to walk past so you can randomly punch one just because he supports the other team’.

Mr Burton, however, fails to see the contradiction behind this statement and gleefully singing about the antics of a cowardly group of terrorists carrying armoury far greater and more life-threatening than blades, who, rather than randomly punching someone in the head, actually killed two civilians in cold blood. I think it’s also fair to say that, aside from the fact that most of the people chanting this sort of stuff have little, if any, idea of what it is like to be caught up in such a terrorist attack, they also rank quite high in the cowardice stakes because, though they’d happily chant such things while sitting or standing among big groups of people, I doubt anyone of them would have the cojones to walk up and say it to the face of a 6ft 5in tall professional sportsman in the peak of physical fitness. You see, the upshot of it is that such people try and pass off those who criticise them for making these chants as being in some way less of a fan, when - in reality - by possessing a mentality that makes you think that chanting such stuff in the first place is remotely acceptable, you are in essence less of a man.


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27
comments

  1. Website Admin

    Nov 06, 2011, 19:18 #14849

    @Andrew Cohen - We have a number of words which are automatically replaced by asterisks and the y word, which I assume is the one you used, is one of them. We've long held the view that it is not a word which should have any place in this environment, hence the policy. We have had the debate plenty of times in the fanzine and on the forum, but it's something we stand by.

  2. Andrew Cohen

    Nov 06, 2011, 19:08 #14848

    Interesting. The monitor cut a word out of my post. I was referring to the tendency of the North Bank in years gone by to make a chant that appeared to be anti semitic but was in fact anti-Tottenham. I was suggesting that it wasn't a brilliant idea for supporters to chant it in any case and this site obviously agrees with me.

  3. Andrew Cohen

    Nov 06, 2011, 11:21 #14831

    We are probably the only supporters who would be having this debate, i.e. holding ourselves to a higher standard and trying to stick to it. The debate is very old. The "****" thing isn't brilliant is it, nor the taunting Liverpudlians for their joblessness? I broadly agree with Rocky RIP. The best chants and the most cutting are those which come either from wit or from the expression of proper condemnation. They are more effective too, because accurate criticism for example Giggs' extra mural japes, Rooney's passionate involvement and concern for the elderly, is much more likely to demoralise the player and get us where we want to go. More fun too.

  4. Matty S

    Nov 05, 2011, 16:07 #14823

    THere are plenty of places you can go to get drunk and slag off peple excessively. Try Manchester. Support your team, have some fun, think of some witty chants, but doent stoop that low.

  5. Christof

    Nov 05, 2011, 13:10 #14821

    Good article - oh and @Steve Camfield - better stick to reading the Daily Express. I'm sure they'll confirm all your bigoted prejudices.

  6. Rocky RIP

    Nov 05, 2011, 12:36 #14818

    I agree with the sentiments of this article. Our fans over stepped the mark big time with chants that are impossible to condone. However, what grates us is the lack of context afforded the situation. Anyone who has had the pleasure of visiting that revolting place and been confronted, outnumbered, bullied and in many cases punched without warning by their repugnant fans will appreciate the level we are working at. For years we've endured songs about Wenger, Sol and Anybuyer? Other fans have complained of being targeted for having the temerity to wear a scarf. A Leeds fan in a wheelchair was hit there once. A case of our fans using the 'when in Rome' philosophy? Maybe. Most tv fans won't be aware of this, so don't appreciate the context of what a trip to the cesspit entails. West Ham fans regularly complain that their fans who have no interest in scrapping get bullied just because they are outnumbered. Subsequently the ones that are into fighting took it upon themselves to put this straight. The pockets of Tottenham fans who are after a fight with our fans that aren't are too cowardly to go after our ones that will actually give them one. That's what's sickening. We will have a firm somewhere in a pub slightly away from the ground. Go and see them if that's really what you want, don't bother us ordinary fans. So to come away from their place having endured all this for so many years and be painted as the villains grates a bit. Anyway, as the article says, we are better than this. If they want to behave like the vile vermin they are, that's their problem. We are The Arsenal. Who ever complains about our fans when they visited Highbury or the Grove? Most say it's the only ground they feel comfortable wearing colours at. Let's keep it this way, and not reduce ourselves to their despicable level. Nobody deserves it. Even him.

  7. Robert Exley

    Nov 05, 2011, 11:24 #14814

    James - If my article is garbage it obviously says a lot about your life if you feel the need to waste 3 minutes of your precious time reading it and further time replying to it. As for freedom of speech - I think you'll find there's no such thing in English law as an unlimited right to freedom of speech - there never has and there never will be. And even if you have a legal right to do something it doesn't mean you should. You have the legal right to fart in a crowded lift, does it make it acceptable?

  8. fozzy's mate

    Nov 05, 2011, 8:08 #14807

    Personally I don't get too excited about who sings or shouts what at football grounds. I have visited over 50 league grounds in the uk and quite a few abroad. I defy anyone at any of those grounds to say that they have not shouted things at a football ground that they would not dream of saying in their every day life. I don't think the chants you refer to are correct and would not now as a man approaching middle age indulge in them but as a much younger man caught up in a mob mentality as I was on many occasions I probably would have. A storm in a tea cup in my opinion, I am more interested in what happens on the pitch and the boardroom. This afternoon at the WBA game I will let off a weeks stress by screaming some stupid remarks, but so what that's part of why I have loved going to football every week for 30 years, that and the fact that I can avoid supermarkets. As for Mikes views of a left wing agenda since 68, as someone who dislikes politics (a dirtier game than football), again I am more interested in debating club propaganda, which I despise.

  9. James

    Nov 04, 2011, 23:12 #14806

    worst 3 minutes of my week reading that garbage! i understand your view point, and i get why you feel that way, but that is your view and your opinion. It does not make anyone who uses them chants less of an Arsenal fan! In all honesty, my opinion - and it is just my opinion - is that said chant does seem to cross a very fine moral boundry line, but that does not mean that i form opinions on the fans uses the chant. Everyone who pays for a ticket to the game has a right to enjoy the game as they see fit, providing they are abiding by the law - last time i checked, freedom of speech was still allowed! climb down from your high horse and walk around with the rest of us! you are no more of a fan because you refuse to use that chant - but also no less - so stop acting like you are 'above' certain sections of fans!

  10. franky

    Nov 04, 2011, 20:47 #14804

    i do not wish adebayor dead, but its football emotions run high. He is not a nice character and you can see alot of whats wrong with football in him.

  11. Robert Exley

    Nov 04, 2011, 19:23 #14803

    Steve Camfield - I was until today unaware that they let the inmates at Broadmoor have a go on the internet every now and then (definitely PC gone mad!). Your 'the left have ruled the world since 1968' rant is priceless. I suppose Thatcher years and her destruction of the miners and the unions was all leftist conspiracy all along was it? Anyway enough of the politics, the nub of this article was pointing out that there are limits as to what people can chant at opposition players and in your second post you seem to agree with the sentiments of my article, so I don't see what you've got a bee in your bonet about.

  12. Jekyll

    Nov 04, 2011, 19:09 #14802

    So Steve, the left are in charge of the world are they? You must be right, all those bankers who control all our money are real lefties aren't they. And Rupert Murdoch, the most powerful media mogul in the world, is a clearly a leftie also. Anyway I should stop, this is a football site.

  13. exiled&dangerous

    Nov 04, 2011, 17:15 #14801

    Fair article, good points, can't see how it can be compared to the Daily Mail as it neither mentions Diana nor the effects of abusive chants on house prices. As for me, I'll wait until I've been shot at for twenty minutes before I start taking the piss out of anyone else who has been through something similar. Would be nice to have a week's worth of his wages though......

  14. Steve Camfield

    Nov 04, 2011, 17:12 #14800

    Yes I am a right-wing person compared to today's standards where the media is all virtually left-wing,ie BBC, Channel 4,most newspapers, as are schools, universities etc. The left took over in 1968 throughout the world and a left-wing agenda was inflicted upon Europe and USA from that time.Anyone attending school after 1968 has been indoctrinated by the left, and they have done a wonderful job, as anyone with a "normal" view is now thought of as an extreme right-wing person. However, I do not condone mindless chanting, certainly not violence etc. Indeed, I would jail anyone found guilty of violence for their first offence, and hang murderers. I told you I was right wing. I see so called supporters screaming abuse at opposing players when they go to take a corner, and even worse when they score a goal against their team. What is that all about? They are a disgrace, and this has no part of football. Adebayor was receiving terrible abuse from Arsenal fans at Man City before he scored his goal. Why would you not expect him to respond when he scored? I do not like the man at all, but when a footballer receives abuse from fans, they should expect to get it back, and no action should be taken against that player. Normal banter is acceptable, and good, nothing else. As for jumping on the bandwagon since 2006, I have been an Arsenal supporter for 49 years, Jack Kelsey was in goal for my first match, so I do understand the Arsenal way far better than most of the people who read these blogs. What I do not understand are all the political stances taken in the game by supporters.

  15. Lewis

    Nov 04, 2011, 16:39 #14798

    Good article. Greedy is a pleb, but there is a line and I like to think that Arsenal are above it.

  16. Robert Exley

    Nov 04, 2011, 14:29 #14797

    Interesting to see this one surface now, it was actually submitted 3 weeks back so it looks a bit behind the news. I still stand my words though. Firstly, by the looks of the criticism I'm a Daily Mail right winger on the one hand, a Liberal and a Leftie - it looks like we've got a bit of a muddled mob on our hands here! Ed Enough - you claim you live in the real world, however you actually live in 'Football World'. In the real world most people think taunting someone over their ordeal in a terrorist attack is the actions of a bellend. You seem to think I'm against all anti-Adebayor chanting, I'm not. Just know where the line in the sand is, FFS!

  17. Jekyll

    Nov 04, 2011, 13:33 #14794

    So Steve, as you are clearly speaking as a hardened right winger, would you condone extreme abuse then? How far do you think it should go? There are historical precedents for people of your 'views'. Bigger crimes around than being a 'leftie liberal' I would suggest. Adebayor is a thick twat, nothing more and the abuse shouldn't extend further than that.

  18. David Stewart

    Nov 04, 2011, 13:09 #14793

    Interesting article which I kind of agree with even though I really don't want to. That said, I certainly wouldn't castigate those Arsenal fans who were chanting it. I would also suggest that said 6ft 5in sportsman in peak physical condition would not have had the cojones to sprint the length of the pitch to taunt the Arsenal fans had a line of stewards/police not been on hand to protect him. Mr Adebayor's action rank high in the cowardice stakes too!

  19. Nick

    Nov 04, 2011, 12:28 #14792

    i stood on the north bank throughout the sixties seventies and eighties when football violence began and reached its peak ive seen potatoes with razor blades in them being thrown sharpened old pennies and on one occasion a chelsea "fan" being escorted out with a policemam carrying a hatchet that had been taken off said "supporter" all the old chants which were shamelessly zenophobic in an arsenal way and some inciting violence and glorying in it but the vile chants about wenger and the moronic ones about adebarndoor take things entirely too far in other words well said mate

  20. Tony Evans

    Nov 04, 2011, 12:25 #14791

    Certainly agree with Ron re the Daily Mail. Has to be the worst paper of the lot for me. Pretends to be a serious paper but is no better than the rest of the tabloid rubbish, who in their defence are not trying to be something they are not.

  21. ed enough

    Nov 04, 2011, 12:15 #14790

    All very PC for someone who claims not to be...Unfortunatly we live in the real world, and when adebarndor visits the ashburton with the scum, he will recieve even more abuse than he endured at ****e hart...If his skin is as thick as his head he should get over it. Arsene has had to endure being called a sex offender for the last 15 years. Protect people who are deserving.

  22. Ron

    Nov 04, 2011, 11:53 #14789

    Can sort of see where youre trying to go with this, but it reads like a cross between a typically sanctimonous Daily Mail column (by any of that vile paper's hacks) and Oliver Holt (Daily Mirror) when at his most disingenuos and stomach churning, moralising worst. Good effort but didnt quite reach its intended objective perhaps.

  23. Bonehead

    Nov 04, 2011, 11:11 #14788

    I detest Greedy as much as the next person but I do not wish he was dead. There is a line, and at WHL it was overstepped in my opinion. And Steve, do you honestly think Robert is a 'leftie' because he wouldn't wish death on someone over a game of football? Seriously, get a life. No doubt you are indicative of the idiots who have infested our club since 2006 and have no idea of The Arsenal Way.

  24. ziggy

    Nov 04, 2011, 10:54 #14787

    very sensible but unfortunately football trials and emotions take away any sense of sanity from groups and certain individual supporters.

  25. Alun

    Nov 04, 2011, 10:43 #14786

    Good piece. It's a pity a section of fans (or are they really fans) chose to abuse Moneybayer with such crap, it brought us down to a lower level than the same spud fans who abused Campbell. I always thought that Arsenal fans had CLASS maybe we seemed to have dropped our standards

  26. ironrover

    Nov 04, 2011, 10:24 #14785

    All well...but still,dont think i'll not sing next time the bloke shows up.

  27. Steve Camfield

    Nov 04, 2011, 10:12 #14784

    Having read this diatribe, I have to disagree with Roberts first statement, he is definitely a leftie liberal, and po-faced PC drone. Please, no more crap like this, leave it to the Guardian and its readers.