Campbell: Time To Crack Down On Verbal Abuse

[Maurice Picarda]

You think that's common knowledge and that's that the Spurs fans were referring to? Like fuck!
.

Well, possibly not.

The club made a major effort to ensure that the song wasn't sung any more. The thing that was interesting was that in the dire warnings printed in programmes they really, really pushed the racism angle, which was questionable, and not the homophobia one.

Football loves tackling racism. Loves it to bits. But it gives tackling homophobia a wide berth.

 

[editor]

Football loves tackling racism. Loves it to bits. But it gives tackling homophobia a wide berth.

Yeah, there's still a fair bit of homophobia about, and I think that's going to be a tougher nut to crack. I had a go at taking the piss out of it when I ran my footie fanzine comic but I don't think it managed to change the world!

I never sing along with the homophobic stuff at games, but to be honest organised chants are fairly rare in my experience - it's usually some lone bozo shouting it out.

http://www.urban75.org/comics/70s-man-22.html

 

[London_Calling]

I also find it really strange that supporters that call Campbell judas and traitor can change jobs at the drop of a hat but expect footballers not to be able to do the same?

Is it as strange as someone not bothering to read the previous posts before they add their wisdom?

 

[Skimix]

SIn my opinion the abuse is getting worse (on the pitch and in the stands) and something does need to be done about it.

I think there is less really offensive chanting these days. At west ham the "gassssss" chant used to be common when we played spurs, these days its only a very small minority who do it. In fact I thought we were extremely polite when we played them last timea few weeks ago, the "Your mum isn't proud of you" one at Paul Robinson was excellent

The other point is that sustained abuse really does get to some players and while it does people will do it. Conversely I hate it when people give Robbie Savage abuse, you know he'll thrive on it and play a blinder.

 

[Skimix]

Some of the stuff a single person can come out with when a player is infront of them is utter, utter filth, and when you've got a kid in the row behind or something, well it's just vile.

And a suprising amount of the time its the kids father! Kids should be banned, I'm not comfortable shouting "Caaaaaaant" with children around

Do people who have posted in this thread go to games I wonder or just sit and watch it comfortably in their armchair?

Yup, got a season ticket.

 

[chieftain]

well I don't like any nasty chants or banter and think football should be attended by decent chaps only. Which is why I'm ditching Spurs and going to join the middle classes at L'ARSEnal where they don't sing anything at all and I can read the Guardian in peace.

 

[dirtysanta]

no that's comedy.

it's not a cultural thing. It's always happened. There has always been abuse, swearing and general bad behaviour at football. Long may it continue.

Hear hear

 

[sleaterkinney]

Sol's just going to get even more abuse now.

I quite like it, but when it's funny. Some of it oversteps the mark.

 

[London_Calling]

Campbell's comments do indeed seem to chime with the all-seater, family entertainment era of the top div in England. But, at the same time, I'm not sure it's football's job to reflect the values of any section of society whether that be the new Guardian families, the old skool 'working class' or even some abstract notion of what the FA think society should be rather than what it is.

Isn't it a society issue, and isn't the Premiership an unreal circus in which - once you go through the turnstile - all sense is suspended for a couple of hours as you oooh and ahhh at people earning up to £1/2 mill a month . . . btw, I don't mean 'circus' in a derogatory way.

It's a raw, visceral madhouse with a huge profile - I suppose that's why so many want to control it.

 

[mr_eko]

Is it as strange as someone not bothering to read the previous posts before they add their wisdom?

I'm sorry but I did read your post but didn't make sense to me. Sol might have said he was going to stay but isn't he allowed to change his mind?

Instead of trying to occupy some non existent moral high ground from where you can hurl whatever abuse you want at Sol you should try to respect others and the decisions they make for their own lives.

 

[London_Calling]

I'm sorry but I did read your post but didn't make sense to me. Sol might have said he was going to stay but isn't he allowed to change his mind?

The point is he repeatedly pledged he was staying while negotiating his signing on fee for the Goons. That would also be fine if, by doing so, he wasn't implicitly encouraging parents to buy club shirts with his name on, posters and the rest of the kids friendly guff, and lying to (in particular) kids who were investing more and more emotion in believing in the club captain.

If Sol Campbell wants to trace the course of the lack of respect some Spurs show him, he might look a little further back, but we won't because it's too uncomfortable or doesn't serve his purpose.

I have no idea what you're talkking about re 'moral high ground', I've added direct context that Campbell chooses to not acknowledge and have expressed no view on the abuse itself

 

[chieftain]

I'm sorry but I did read your post but didn't make sense to me. Sol might have said he was going to stay but isn't he allowed to change his mind?

Instead of trying to occupy some non existent moral high ground from where you can hurl whatever abuse you want at Sol you should try to respect others and the decisions they make for their own lives.

Dont be so naive, Sol Campbell wasnt just any old player. So you come through the ranks of a club and are made club captain and become firmly a fans favorite, then you repeatedly pledge yourself to that club making both private and public statements aplenty...

Then why when you f**k off on a Bosman to the bitterest rivals in pretty much any league would you wonder why you get some grief...

Come on Eko, use your head. He was always going to get shit for it

 

[nightowl]

will be interesting to see what happens this weekend. he'll probably get ten tonnes more of shit thrown at him now

 

[stavros]

I also find it really strange that supporters that call Campbell judas and traitor can change jobs at the drop of a hat but expect footballers not to be able to do the same?

Very few, if any, industries have the "customer" loyalty factor of football. They're such an integral part of communities that they can't just be flippantly discarded for money without expecting anger. To try and draw a parallel, would the Dalai Lama or Archbishop of Vanterbury ever apply to become Pope?

 

[Balbi]

There was an argument among pompey fans when we signed Campbell - over whether or not the 'world class defender' we signed deserved the chant 'gay and you're mental' that he'd received a few months before at Fratton Park.

It's herd mentality innit

 

[London_Calling]

There was an argument among pompey fans when we signed Campbell - over whether or not the 'world class defender' we signed deserved the chant 'gay and you're mental' that he'd received a few months before at Fratton Park.

Which part was the argument about?




/boom tish

 

[mr_eko]

The point is he repeatedly pledged he was staying while negotiating his signing on fee for the Goons. That would also be fine if, by doing so, he wasn't implicitly encouraging parents to buy club shirts with his name on, posters and the rest of the kids friendly guff, and lying to (in particular) kids who were investing more and more emotion in believing in the club captain.

If Sol Campbell wants to trace the course of the lack of respect some Spurs show him, he might look a little further back, but we won't because it's too uncomfortable or doesn't serve his purpose.

I have no idea what you're talkking about re 'moral high ground', I've added direct context that Campbell chooses to not acknowledge and have expressed no view on the abuse itself

You appear to claiming that the Spurs fans are only abusing him because when he moved to Arsenal their kids lost their innocence and they had also spent a load of money on shirts and posters. I think the real reason is to do with the fact that he moved to their biggest rivals and actually won things. Do you think he would still have been getting the same level of abuse he had gone to Bayern?

 

[mr_eko]

Dont be so naive, Sol Campbell wasnt just any old player. So you come through the ranks of a club and are made club captain and become firmly a fans favorite, then you repeatedly pledge yourself to that club making both private and public statements aplenty...

Then why when you f**k off on a Bosman to the bitterest rivals in pretty much any league would you wonder why you get some grief...

Come on Eko, use your head. He was always going to get shit for it

So you think the all the abuse he gets is justified?

 

[Jonti]

I'm all for abuse, swearing and general bad behaviour at football, but not on the pitch.

Those primadonna whining players should shut the fuck up and get hefty fines every time they start hassling the ref/linesman.

And each other.

There's seldom cause for footballers to address members of the opposing eam at all. But snide digs seem all the rage. Marco Materazzi got his just deserts from Zinedine Zidane

 

[mr_eko]

Very few, if any, industries have the "customer" loyalty factor of football. They're such an integral part of communities that they can't just be flippantly discarded for money without expecting anger. To try and draw a parallel, would the Dalai Lama or Archbishop of Vanterbury ever apply to become Pope?

I think your analogy is a weak one because you can't apply to become Pope. Popes are picked by their fellow Bishops. Although it's unlikely there is nothing stopping the Dalai Lama and the Archbishop converting to Catholicism and then being appointed as Bishops and then being elected as Pope.

If every other person in society can apply for whatever job they want why should their be different rules for footballers?

He didn't just discard Spurs for money though did he? In all the time he was at Spurs they never finished higher then seventh. Can you blame him for wanting to play for a club that had a chance of winning something? Sure the Spurs fans would have been angry but why not respect his decisions, thank him for his time at the club and get on with supporting the players that do want to play for them.

 

[chieftain]

So you think the all the abuse he gets is justified?

Personally no but I think its expected. Its football we're talking about not the Opera. The verbal abuse is perpetrated throughout the game from the players to each other and the officials through to the crowd to the players and officials. Perhaps some of the players want to think about the example they set when they clearly abuse each other and anyone around them during a game.

 

[chieftain]

He didn't just discard Spurs for money though did he? In all the time he was at Spurs they never finished higher then seventh. Can you blame him for wanting to play for a club that had a chance of winning something? Sure the Spurs fans would have been angry but why not respect his decisions, thank him for his time at the club and get on with supporting the players that do want to play for them.

Why did he Lie about it then?

Mr Eko, out of interest which team do you support and do they have a historical rival?

 

[London_Calling]

You appear to claiming that the Spurs fans are only abusing him because when he moved to Arsenal their kids lost their innocence and they had also spent a load of money on shirts and posters. I think the real reason is to do with the fact that he moved to their biggest rivals and actually won things. Do you think he would still have been getting the same level of abuse he had gone to Bayern?

I think he wouldn't have got anything like the same level of abuse had he not consistently lied and deceived the fans in order to increase his signing on fee.