A tempestuous relationship

A tempestuous relationship


C’mere ‘til I tell ya
Daniel Carey

BARELY a week seems to go by these days in the sporting world without a high profile incident involving star players and supporters occurring.
This week’s confrontation happened between that loveable character from Chelsea, Didier Drogba, and some robust Burnley fans, who were down in the capital from Lanchashire for a shot at the big guns.
Having put Chelsea one in front, Drogba baited the Burnley fans and then got a torrent of abuse thrown at him, along with a few coins for good measure, and Drogba lost his cool and fired a coin back into the crowd.
It’s plain to see that no one in this sort of incident is innocent but it is generally the player on the field, who is probably earning more in a week than most of the coin throwing fans will earn in a decade, who is vilified and held up to scrutiny.
So where does the blame really lie? A conversation which I overheard in a public house the evening following the Drogba incident, obviously between a Chelsea fan and a Liverpool fan, keenly observes the dilemma facing the Football Association when dealing with problems like this.
Liverpool fan: He deserves everything he gets that fella (Drogba), what kind of a bright spark runs straight up to away fans to rub their faces in it?
Chelsea fan: Look it, don’t start, the only way he can shut those yobos in the stands up is by putting the ball in the back of the net, and that’s what he did! It’s gone to the dogs, people are only going to games to hurl abuse at players anymore.
LF: Ya, but if I was on £100,000 a week, I wouldn’t give a shite what anyone called me.
CF: That’s fair enough, but they are not robots, they are human beings who sometimes react instinctively. Sure you’re someone to talk, didn’t Carragher get banned a few years ago for doing the exact same thing.
LF: He did, but that was for throwing a coin at Arsenal fans. That’s allowed. This was at poor oul Burnley fans who probably haven’t been to a Premiership ground for years. At least they ended up winning the game!
There is no winner of this argument because in reality the actions of both the fan and Drogba are indefensible. However, it will likely be the Chelsea player who will face all the punishment because no one will have the guts among the Burnley fans to point the finger at one of their own.
It is a worrying trend that football fans in general don’t feel there are any boundaries to the length they can go when abusing Premiership stars. David Beckham, Sol Campbell and Frank Lampard have been the butt of some pretty vile chants in recent years but fortunately most of the chanting can be taken in jest and there have been some real classics down through the years. My own personal favourite goes back around a decade, shortly after Peter Ndlovu and Noel Whelan had both moved from Coventry City to Leeds. Shortly afterwards, Leeds were at home to Coventry and their fans taunted the opposition to the tune of, ‘You’ve lost that loving feeling’ from the Righteous Brothers, with this classic, ‘You’ve lost Ndlovu and Whelan’. Priceless.