The Secret Footballer On One Finger Salutes

[White Noise]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog/2011/dec/09/the-secret-footballer-one-fingered-salutes?newsfeed=true


The Secret Footballer: one-fingered salutes show fans you're fair game


The stick Luis Suárez has received from opposition supporters owes much to his magnetic attraction to controversy



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The Secret Footballer guardian.co.uk, Friday 9 December 2011 23.04 GMT


Sometimes the best way for a player to overcome critical chants from fans is to laugh along with them. Photograph: Tom Jenkins for the Guardian


On the principle of six degrees of separation, the world is a small place in which an individual can get to any other person in no more than six links. The Premier League, however, has always been a law unto itself and continues to prove it is possible for tens of thousands of people to get to one player within 90 minutes.

Monday's match at Craven Cottage lives in the memory for the hand gesture that Liverpool's Luis Suárez appeared to offer to the home fans at the end of his side's 1-0 defeat to Fulham. What surprised me the most was that Suárez's middle finger was raised in response to chants of "cheat, cheat", giving the impression that the South American is a little sensitive around the edges, despite being more experienced than most when it comes to taking flak.

The crime itself is not particularly heinous but, by the same token, it doesn't exactly cover Suárez or football in glory. I gather there are people who are still offended by certain hand gestures, although given some of the things that I've seen and heard down the years I'd be surprised if many of them are to be found inside football stadiums.

The relationship between fans and the players has undoubtedly suffered since the wages on the pitch spiralled out of proportion with the pay-slips in the stands. Thankfully, serious flash points, such as Eric Cantona's kung fu kick at Selhurst Park and El Hadji Diouf's deplorable spitting incident, remain few and far between.

It is difficult to describe just how angry a player can become on the pitch, and in the past I have frightened myself by how worked up I've got because of silly things like derogatory singing and name-calling. In truth, players are so well shielded away from the pitch that very often you can find yourself becoming a touch precious on it.

A good friend of mine who has since retired was forever holding forth on the hypocrisy of fans. His belief was that while supporters felt it was their right to chastise footballers, they had real problems when what they dished out got thrown back. The hole in the argument is that the fans are the only ones paying, although a right-back I played with would use that as a way of turning the tables. "Keep putting your money in my pocket, mate," was his stock response to abuse.

Much of what fans shout is lost on players but occasionally we hear things, despite liking to pretend otherwise. In general play it is impossible to pick out anything because of the concentration required and the speed at which the match is taking place but players taking corners and throw-ins would be lying if they said they never hear the insults. Oddly enough, it's at some of the bigger stadiums, such as Old Trafford and the Emirates, where the atmosphere can be subdued for long periods as expectant fans wait to be entertained, that you can occasionally hear a personal taunt near the touchline.

Much of what is shouted is in jest, and as soon as the fans see you look over at them and smile it breaks the ice and defuses the situation. That was what happened at a game I was playing in several years ago, when the crowd sang: "Does your missus know you're here?" to a player who had been photographed that week with a young lady who wasn't his wife. The player in question laughed along as soon as the chant started and, of course, once he did that, the crowd stopped singing.

Sometimes, however, that response isn't enough and that's when the line becomes a little blurry. I am often asked what the worst thing that I have ever heard shouted from the stands is. I've heard it all, from your kids dying of Aids to death threats and every conceivable insult about wives or girlfriends.

I don't want to start bleating but what I do find odd is that it is very easy in the modern game to get sent off for foul and abusive language and yet much more difficult to get thrown out of a football stadium for doing the same thing. Clearly it is impossible to eject 30,000 fans for chanting a derisory song in unison but we all see and hear outrageous remarks that go unpunished.

The other side of the coin is that football supporters can be wonderfully witty. It was impossible not to laugh last season when the Chelsea supporters yelled "shoot" whenever Ashley Cole, who had been involved in an incident with an air-rifle at the training ground days earlier, picked up the ball.

The sort of stick that Suárez has received, not only at Fulham but elsewhere this season, owes much to his magnetic attraction to controversy, which was evident before he arrived in this country and, in many ways, he has since reinforced. He took a bite out of an opponent while playing for Ajax and, on a much grander stage, proclaimed with a sense of warped glee that "the hand of God now belongs to me" after he denied Ghana a winning goal in the 2010 World Cup quarter-finals with a deliberate handball. The crime was not keeping the ball out, which every footballer I know would have done, but showing a complete lack of class in the aftermath.

What we do have to accept, though, is that this is a supremely gifted footballer and someone who is still coming to terms with the nuances of the English game. Didier Drogba was in a similar position a few years ago and it took some quiet words from a few of his English team-mates, spelling out how we don't take too kindly to those who practise the darker arts of football, to bring about a change. Whether Suárez is a diver or not, what is indisputable is that by raising one finger on Monday night, the forward has sent a direct message to fans up and down the country that he can be easily provoked.

Follow the Secret Footballer on Twitter @TSFguardian

[NogoodBoyo]

Some intersting and wise words in there, Glasshopper.
I think he and his old friend make a good point about the abuse from the fans being hypocritical.
Nogood "secretion, isit" Boyo

[Burt]

The last sentance is the key one.

He will be a target as fans know he can be wound up.

"DIVE, DIVE"...

Federal Sign & Signal Submarine Dive Alarm

[Tom]

The last sentance is the key one.

He will be a target as fans know he can be wound up.

"DIVE, DIVE"...

Federal Sign & Signal Submarine Dive Alarm

LOL!  :011:

[MOR :]

I don't know why but this annoyed me...

Why I think there is an agenda against Luis Suarez by Mark Lawrenson in the Mirror...

There does seem to be an agenda against Luis Suarez.

It is even damaging Liverpool's season, such is the spotlight upon Suarez.
Let's get it straight. The ­allegations that he racially abused Patrice Evra happened nine weeks ago. He's been charged. But why is it taking so long to resolve?
Suarez used a term that is not seen as racist in South America. In fact, it's so common that TV commentators use it. It's not acceptable here. But Suarez comes from a place where it is acceptable.
The case will be incredibly difficult to resolve and yet does seem to be dragging on and casting a shadow over the player and the club. The fact it's taking so long seems to raise doubt and is unfair.
Furthermore, Suarez takes stick from the Fulham fans on Monday night. He reacts with a finger salute. That's not right. Of course not. But it takes a saint not to react sometimes.

And if Suarez reacted then why weren't other cases this season of players caught on camera making gestures punished?

Even more, why aren't the Fulham fans being punished? If they swore (and as well behaved as Fulham fans are, many supporters do swear) then why not charge them?

Why is it acceptable for the fan to abuse and yet it is only the player who gets punished when he reacts? How is that fair?

Simple answer: it's not. It also suggests that Suarez is being treated differently and unfairly to other players.

[epsomraver]

I don't know why but this annoyed me...

Why I think there is an agenda against Luis Suarez by Mark Lawrenson in the Mirror...

There does seem to be an agenda against Luis Suarez.

It is even damaging Liverpool's season, such is the spotlight upon Suarez.
Let's get it straight. The ­allegations that he racially abused Patrice Evra happened nine weeks ago. He's been charged. But why is it taking so long to resolve?
Suarez used a term that is not seen as racist in South America. In fact, it's so common that TV commentators use it. It's not acceptable here. But Suarez comes from a place where it is acceptable.
The case will be incredibly difficult to resolve and yet does seem to be dragging on and casting a shadow over the player and the club. The fact it's taking so long seems to raise doubt and is unfair.
Furthermore, Suarez takes stick from the Fulham fans on Monday night. He reacts with a finger salute. That's not right. Of course not. But it takes a saint not to react sometimes.

And if Suarez reacted then why weren't other cases this season of players caught on camera making gestures punished?

Even more, why aren't the Fulham fans being punished? If they swore (and as well behaved as Fulham fans are, many supporters do swear) then why not charge them?

Why is it acceptable for the fan to abuse and yet it is only the player who gets punished when he reacts? How is that fair?

Simple answer: it's not. It also suggests that Suarez is being treated differently and unfairly to other players.

Spoken like a true unbiased scouser bang head

[Logicalman]

You beat me to it Epsom. Not that Lawro could ever be biased, when talking about his favorite red poo, could he? 

Over to you, Finn     :hook:

[Jimpav]

I love the way that Lawro seems to think Suarez actions can be justified because he "used a term that is not seen as racist in South America. In fact, it's so common that TV commentators use it. It's not acceptable here. But Suarez comes from a place where it is acceptable." Why not go the whole hog and throw some bananas on the pitch or make monkey noises - after all that's acceptable in lots of cultures. On the plus side if we signed a Somalian player we could have Terry stoned to death - after all it's not acceptable in the UK but where he comes from it would be.