Home > Football > Why Spurs fans have no reason to apologise to Sol Campbell
by Keith Palmer on 13 October 2008
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Call out the Boys' Brigade, the Scouts and the Brownies! Alert the media! Then demand the immediate attention of the police, the army, and the elite of the SAS, for we have a new threat to national security!
So, is it the Yardies or the Triads? Maybe the sinister ''hoodie'' nation has combined to form a new threat to our streets and homes. Or could it be the resurrection of Al Capone, Hitler and The Krays in some form of newborn, underworld collaboration to modern day normality?
No? Who then? Well, apparently some naughty ''children'' have been singing songs about Sol Campbell - a multi-millionaire footballer who chose to turn his back on the club that gave him his chance in the game for their deadly local rivals, thus depriving them of a very handsome eight-figure cheque.
For those who live in the real world, we have grown to accept that the rules within a football ground have remained somewhat different from those outside. That doesn't make it right, it's simply always been that way during our lifetimes and has seemingly been allowed or condoned by our clubs.
May I explain that the personal and extreme singing against certain individuals has never been my thing. I mainly ignore it and, as a father, am secretly critical of its content. That's not to say I'm unaware or live my life as a prude, but really! What else is going to be banned from football? How much more life and atmosphere are the authorities going to extract from what used to be the working man's sport? Or is this yet another component in pandering to the money and whims of the growing army of corporate Tristrams and Tarquins that proliferate modern-day football?
For those who dismiss the presence of tribalism in football, get a life! It's been that way since the year dot. It's not rugby and it's not the theatre - and if you know yer 'istory, as the old song goes, you'll recall that certain grounds have a litany of closures, a rap sheet as long as an orangutan's arm, and a history of ''wars'' with rival clubs and their players going back to the very beginning.
To quote Tottenham Hotspur's official website from October 11, they claim that: ''We were alerted to the [Campbell] issue after the Premier League game at Fratton Park last season''. For a start, they've obviously ignored the offending song against their ex-skipper for the previous three years, when it was sung at home and away games, and where, so the official website instructs, ''our fans are normally well-behaved''.
I find these quotes amazing, especially when a conversation with any clued-up supporter in any of your local pubs that haven't been closed down will tell you that Spurs have one of the worst reputations for hooliganism - if not the worst!
''Of course, we will not tolerate abusive, unacceptable behaviour, or that of a racist, homophobic or obscene nature in general,'' Spurs proudly and quite predictably state - and yet they have let it go for the best part of 45 years relatively unchecked!
Remember, these are the self-same Spurs fans who have parodied four, maybe five decades of anti-semitic abuse, who have seen PLO flags unfurled at the Lane with accompanying ditties regarding gas and death by asphyxiation. These are the self-same Spurs fans who cheered Jermain Defoe from the pitch, and sang: ''You're Spurs, and you know you are,'' when the man was taking a penalty AGAINST them!
And to the divisive list of stirrers who have intentionally turned this into a racist issue, you have purposefully misinterpreted Campbell's own public reference to ''wanting to swing from a tree'', in a sad, yet telling indictment of the man's own mental state at that time. Your part in this issue is as heinous as the songs themselves, while the checklist of black former players that return to a decent White Hart Lane welcome is long and less documented!
As for Portsmouth's ''enquiry into the situation'', what will they find? A fanbase rightly aggrieved at a man who turned his back on their club after varying public statements of loyalty. A man who casually appeared at a press conference of the clubs' bitter rivals, naively believing that his two-fingered salute to his ex-club and fans was a parting, final shot.
Why now, after all this time, has Campbell chosen to object? Why is his perceived ''hurt'' more intense now having played against his old employers a number of times, including for Arsenal? Should his former club's ''hurt'' be any less intense?
With this in mind, how many of the perpetrators can the club rightfully be allowed to arrest? One thousand? Five thousand? Twenty thousand? The entire ground? Or will the clubs use this golden opportunity to arrest and ban the irritating list of characters that they've failed to bring to justice over all these years? After all, a couple of hundred arrests will free up seats for yet more corporate customers and hangers-on!
As dull and stale as this story has become, this, in the words of Monty Python, is a dead parrot, an ex-parrot. In fact, this parrot should have no further reason to repeat itself, were it not for the plethora of interfering politically correct, the do-gooder health and safety ''experts'' who seem determined to sterilise our game, and the army of 'nannies' hell bent on telling us how to enjoy ourselves, despite the list of in-ground rules that have been condoned by clubs, administration and the law since time immemorial!
Comments (7)
by Jesus Christ on October 14, 2008
That article is a load of poo! Sol is well able for abuse but that doesn't mean there shouldn't be a negative public opinion towards it. Cop on Palmer or I will smite thee!!
by Yid Army on October 14, 2008
What a well thought out, and constructive piece of editorial. It is paplpably wrong that someone who treated their employer, and 1.4 million Spurs fans, so shabbily/dishonestly should now be allowed to bleat about how hurt their feelings are. Incidentally, the chant that is being referred to MAKES NO MENTION of any racist, or homophobic, points. It isn't particularly vitriolic, and although it is 28 words long, it actually only contains 2 swear words! Just goes to show how disconnected the authorities are from the average man in the street/football supporter. I must admit that hundreds of South Stand supporters have got round the unofficial "ban" of this chant by simply substituing the words for "la-la, lalalalala-la, lalala-la lalalala-la, etc etc" - quite amusing, and quietly subversive in its own way.
Shut up JC, the world is not fair, and things aren't always the way we would want them, but your namby-pamby liberal defence of Campbell shows you up to be the woolly little tart you are. Do one! COYS
by hertford yid on October 14, 2008
He gets what he deserves , had he been a man and told the truth in the first place it would have been quickly forgotten , so it will never end until he's out of football .
by spence on October 14, 2008
Get over yourselves girls. Campbell completed his contract and gave his all to the Spurs. I'm sure he thought long and hard about going across to Arsenal. Ok be pissed off with him for a few months but 10 years or more??? Grow up ladies!! Time to move on and focus your energies that you are bottom of the league. Grim times ahead. Play up Pompey!!!
by tomo yid on October 14, 2008
i deinately agree.all we seem to do as a nation is apologise and grovel.the media have turned it into something else and as a club the fans are certainly not racist.I wonder if they will press into an enquiry into the scummers calling us all yids?
by Manu4 Ever on October 17, 2008
Constantly slagging, of their own players, and every time they do the team gets worse and loses, they never learn , fans who don't support their team , and abuse explayers , will get what they deserve.... Relegation!! Happy days
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