Friday, November 14, 2008

What's Wrong With Football

Why Chelsea fans can't make fun of us for having the boy Cristiano

"
Didier Drogba has been charged with violent conduct by the FA for throwing a coin back into the crowd during Chelsea's--"

Let's just stop right there. No need to go any further. Does no one else see what's wrong with the above statement? It's a coin. I know Drogba has a helluva lot of power in those legs of his, sort a prerequisite for his job, but unless he has some sort of superhuman strength in his arms that flinging a coin into the crowd would cause any injury, let alone serious injury, to a fan I don't see how this is a legitimate issue. It shouldn't have even been addressed by the FA let alone actually brought to a decision.

I'm usually not one to vocalize protection for players as they essentially have the BEST LIFE EVER. Add to that that I'm actually defending a Chelsea player, I'll admit I feel a little dirty. But in this case I think the fans are getting too much leeway. How is it that Drogba gets charged but the Burnley fans don't get charged for throwing the coin in the first place? It's not like Drogba pulled a quarter, or I guess in this case a half-pence, out of his jock and threw it at the crowd. It was thrown at him in the first place and the Burnley fans should be reprimanded for their behavior. I know people always talk about giving more respect to the fans and believe me you're preaching to the choir, I'm a fan, but when it comes to abuse--be it physical or verbal--a line needs to be drawn in the sand and certain behavior needs to be flagged as unacceptable and thus properly punished.

Throwing a coin is really no different than hurling racial abuse at players. Pampered as they are they don't deserve such abuse just as fans don't deserve racial abuse or coins thrown at them. I'm not saying that Drogba shouldn't be reprimanded to some extent but I'm saying it needs to go both ways. If you're gonna charge Drogba with violent conduct then you have to charge Burnley with disorderly conduct and give them an equivalent punishment.

Ok I'm done, It's a Friday night I'm gonna get off my proverbial soapbox and get a little loose. I'm a bit buzzed as it is. Good talk.

*Addendum: This should not be misconstrued as any form of favor towards Chelsea. They're still a bunch of diving, cheating, overpaid, overrated, overly-metrosexual, overly-not fresh at all bunch of fucking amateurs that will again finish below the mighty United both in the league and in Europe.

And we'll win the Carling Cup just for kicks. Recognize.

6 comments:

guestblogger said...

Excellent article. It really was blown out of all proportion wasn't it?

Great site you have by the way - would you be able to drop me an email at some stage?

Cheers

Thomas

thomasrooney.omr(at)gmail.com

Anonymous said...

Whilst I agree with you that the fan who threw the coin at Drogba in the first place should be punished, I feel the issue of Drogba throwing it back must be dealt with and dealt with strongly.

Firstly, Drogba didn't aim the coin back at the person who threw it. If you have seen the incident you would have to conclude that the coin could have hit anyone in the crowd. Be it a woman or even a child.

I would also disagree with your point that it was only a coin and couldn't do damage. I can't remember the match or the linesman but only last season a match official was left with a gash in his head from a coin directed at him. Should the coin hit someone in the eye, the damage could be severe and permanent and as already mentioned, more than likely afflict an innocent bystander rather than the person who hurled the coin in his direction in the first place.

Jamie Carragher and Alan Smith were both suspended for throwing "missiles" back into the crowd and the FA had no choice but to issue a similar punishment.

I would be interested to hear whether you think kicking a fan who abused you is as serious as throwing something into the crowd? Both constitute abuse; both towards the player and from the player. Do you remember Eric Cantona's kung fu kick directed at a Crystal Palace fan? He got an 8 month ban for that! Drogba's coin toss may not be as serious, but it is most definitely the same ball park and in my opinion, the punishments shouldn't be so far apart.

Anonymous said...

The coin could've hit anyone in the eye. Blindness. Bloodied eye. Drogba should've just stayed calm.

He's a professional but in this case he failed to act like one. He should've just let it go. He needs to work on his temper. This isn't the first time its gotten him in trouble. Remember Moscow 08?

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MichaelWalker said...

well written post