Article by Demetri Loizou.
News has emerged this Wednesday (18/12) that Jack Wilshere, while playing for Arsenal on Saturday (14/12) has been charged by the FA over an alleged abusive hand gesture.
- Abuse can only be one way, according to the FA.
I witnessed this in person, Wilshere was challenging for the ball, and then appealed for a corner and a goal kick was given, I think he complained but then got on with it. As he was walking back, the City fans were shouting “wanker” at him and he responded by displaying his middle finger.
Now, given this is a direct response to verbal abuse from a specific section of fans, what is the problem here? Fans are fair game, they can take it if they’re dishing it out; it’s just a bit of “banter”. Having been part of a crowd who were giving an opposition player some stick, I would say the fans definitely enjoy players responding to such goads. Tony Roberts, formerly of Dagenham & Redbridge was a great example of this. He would play up to the opposition crowd to the point where playing the Daggers was not such a dull affair as it might have been.
Back to Wilshere’s case and by now, if I were explaining my point in person, I would undoubtedly have been addressed with the common fallacy that “footballers are role models”. Wilshere’s gesture was directed solely at the area of the ground where fans were abusing him: if he didn’t respond, the only lesson young kids who saw that might learn is that it’s okay to abuse people, and don’t expect anything back.
Now please let me know if I’m being unfair with this next analogy. Imagine if the player was black and instead of “wanker”, the opposition fans were hurling racist abuse. Would the middle finger gesture be inappropriate in that instance, and would the FA be charging the player for obscenity or the club for failing to control its fans? I conclude that this is another example of the FA meddling where it’s not needed and it ought to occupy itself with the host of more challenging issues that it currently faces.
England won’t have won a trophy for forty-eight years by the time we go to Brazil – perhaps the FA ought to swerve needlessly prosecuting our most important players, or any other players for that matter. I can’t imagine too many fans around the country levelling abuse in his direction should he chip in with a few heroic performances this summer.
Under The Floodlights 