Long term Just Arsenal readers will know every season I preach about a long-held issue in football about some grown adults feeling, in the confines of the sport, they enter this secret bubble where they can say and act however they wish.
I feel I have an obligation to use my platform to educate a younger generation, who have grown up thinking the measure of a supporter is how loud you can shout and how many swear words you use.
The latest example is a video emerging on social media of a man trying to headbutt Roy Keane at the Emirates on Sunday.
Whatever your opinion of Keane the player or the pundit, he doesn’t deserve to go to work and be attacked.
In 2023 people should feel safe in the confines of a stadium.
Arsenal are cooperating with the police, and it’s believed a 42-year-old male has been arrested. (ADMIN note – In fact he has now been accused in the Sun)
Given where he interacted with the Sky crew, these would not have been cheap tickets. (ADMIN again – he is a £2,500 hospitality season ticket holder)
Yet that’s the sad thing is, he’s most likely in a decent job with a family. He probably would never act like this in a supermarket or at the post office, yet thinks that a match day gives him licence to act like a thug.
If found guilty, Arsenal should post his details online. Let it cost him employment, let it take food off the table, let his loved ones read how he spends his weekends.
Both the club and the law will offer some sort of banning order but that’s not enough.
Have zero tolerance. Teach children that this behaviour warrants time in jail, because in what world is it okay to hurt someone based on you either not liking who they used to be employed by, and/or their opinions?
I never understood tribalism and believe it leads people on a dangerous path – as this proves.
You can love something but not have to say everything is perfect.
You can be emotionally invested, but still have a point of view that might not be positive.
I have been to Highbury, as well as our current home, I have had the honour of meeting Mr Wenger and ex Gunners. Yet it never enters my head that I have to act like a yob.
I don’t feel the need to throw a brick at the away coach, verbally abuse players or spout racial abuse online. But I also have an education. I can separate football from reality. Football is a comfort, an escape….
It shouldn’t impact your mind so much that you feel the need to be violent. How pathetic is that?
Imagine having to tell a judge, the reason I headbutted essentially a stranger is because he played for Man United. That might not be the reasoning but whatever it is, the motive will make little sense.
We keep pretending we don’t have issues in the UK but are quick to put our nose up to other countries.
How many players for example have to be racially abused before we force changes?
If that were Barcelona and Real Madrid and media personalities were being attacked, we would judge the Spanish game.
It’s a sad reflection on England’s national sport, as well as Arsenal, that a game broadcast around the world should have this happen.
Last year Arsenal players were criticised for not stopping to interact with mascots. The Lionesses were condemned for not greeting fans waiting at the airport.
Yet this will only make those opportunities rarer. Who’s going to want to communicate with the public if it’s dangerous?
Keane would never ask for this, but I bet his security is increased, and that even Sky abandon the idea of their coverage taking part pitch side.
Fans often stay on the side waiting for the interviews to finish so they can converse with players or pundits. Could you blame anyone from any TV station if they now refuse to be in that position?
If Arsenal now order stewards to keep fans apart from broadcasters, that would be understandable.
Football is a beautiful game but it’s just that …. a game.
Dan
CALLING ALL ARSENAL FANS! Anyone who would like to contribute an Article or Video opinion piece on JustArsenal, please contact us through this link…
