Rocky the King
Arsenal Football Club is rapidly losing any credibility about being a caring club. One could argue that the role of the club is to set an example to all of the Junior Gunners who idolise what the club stands for. As such the club’s efforts to present standards of respect have taken a hit with the revelation that its majority owner has launched a TV channel which glorifies blood sports.
My Outdoor TV is a subscription channel which is popular in the USA with hunting enthusiasts and it boasts that it will show hunting which is ethical and legal. It requires a subscription and therefore will be seen mainly by enthusiasts.
Currently on our TV screens we are seeing efforts to save the Northern White Rhino from Africa, as well as efforts to stop Ivory poaching by the killing of elephants. One would have presumed that Mr Kroenke would have understood the feelings of many people in the UK following the shooting of Cecil the lion in Zimbabwe in 2015. An act that spawned outrage the world over and almost got the Dentist involved a criminal record. Yet in keeping with his arrogant disdain for ordinary British people, he chooses “Trump like” to ignore the outcry and pursue his objective regardless. Well this will be one of his biggest public relations gaffes which he will come to regret.
One thing that Stan Kroenke cannot do without however is corporate sponsorship. I cannot imagine many of the club’s biggest sponsors wanting to be associated with the activities which many find so abhorrent. So if Silent Stan thinks that the furore will abate and normal service will be resumed in due course, he is sadly mistaken. He has just given us the ammunition to hunt him down by vilifying the sponsors who condone his behaviour. In the UK, fox hunting is currently banned, badger baiting is outlawed. Hare coursing rarely takes place. So where is this audience for big game hunting? Apart from the glorious 5th and Grouse shooting on the moors, our hunger for hunting on these shores is limited.
Perhaps Arsène Wenger will sidestep the inevitable criticism and questions that will occur at the press conference prior to the Community Shield. Arsène Wenger is apparently a man of principle so I wonder if he will distance himself from this latest venture of the Club’s owner. If he wants to add his voice of outrage then no doubt he will make very strong statements (NOT). For the first time in living memory I can actually say that as a consequence of Stan Kroenke’s actions, I am actually ashamed to be an Arsenal fan. I am not an animal rights protestor, but saving the planet and the endangered species thereupon means something that my children’s children have a right to see and experience.
Twitter@RTKafc_insider
