Of Course He’s Innocent, He Plays For My Team

I love football.

As a Coventry City fan, that is surely an oxymoron.  It isn’t just on the pitch where I love the game, I love talking about it with friends and fellow fans.  There is, however, a danger in being a fan of football.  People might think that you are a “Football Fan”.

I make the distinction between the two because there is a separation.  Never is that separation more abundantly clear than when a scandal involving a Footballer hits the headlines, and indeed the courts.  Football has a very tribal nature.  “Insult my team or a member of my team and you insult me and my city/country” is the approach from the aforementioned “Football Fan”.  The fan of football tends to take a more balanced approach.

I’ve noticed it recently with the John Terry Court Case regarding racially abusing QPR defender Anton Ferdinand, and how opinion has differed even before the CPS had charged Terry.  John Terry is no saint, he had a very public extra marital affair with team mate Wayne Bridge’s girlfriend Vanessa Perroncel.  However, in the usual misogynistic view of the “Football Fan”, JT was a proper laaad and Ms Perroncel was a slaaag, probably out for money.  More on this mindset later.

The way that elements of the Chelsea support were so sure of Terry’s innocence, and the way elements of QPR’s support, and indeed many people who dislike Terry and/or Chelsea were sure of his guilt (either based on their support for another team, or the TV footage showing the incident) reminded me of the staunch, trenchant stance taken by both Manchester United and Liverpool fans regarding a similar incident where Liverpool’s Luis Suarez racially abused Man Utd’s Patrice Evra.  (The situation was further inflamed  a few months later when Suarez refused to shake Evra’s hand earlier this year when the teams met at Old Trafford.)

Many Liverpool fans were, and still are, very vocal and visual with their support for one of their own.  Many Man Utd fans were quick to support Evra’s claim that he was racially abused.  Like Terry, Suarez was no saint.  He first came to attention of many fans when, in the dying minutes of the 2010 World Cup Quarter Final, his deliberate handball stopped a certain goal for Ghana, who subsequently missed the resulting spot kick.  Suarez compounded his Panto villain status by celebrating the miss as he was walking down the tunnel.  Whilst playing for Ajax the following season, Suarez received a 7 game ban for biting an opponent.

Liverpool stood by their player, most notably by the team wearing shirts with the image and number of Suarez in the warm up for a match.  There were many Liverpool “Football Fans” felt it was their duty to do the same, irrespective of guilt.  He was one of their guys so they had to show solidarity.  Likewise, Suarez was already guilty in the eyes of the “Football Fans” of Man Utd.  I daresay had it been Javier Hernandez calling Glen Johnson “Negrito” 8 times, both sets of fans would have been equally supportive of their player, albeit from the other side of the coin.

That’s what bothers me most about “Football Fans” is the lack of being objective.  Even my own side, Coventry City, have signed a player who courted controversy.  Coventry signed the talented free agent and registered sex offender Marlon King after his release from prison.  King polarised a lot of the support at Coventry, many were critical of signing a multiple criminal and the nature of his crimes.  Others adopted the approach that he had served his time and deserved a second, or third chance.  It was the “he’s one of ours so support him” mentality that I mentioned earlier.

King was a success at Coventry, he was top scorer despite only signing halfway through the season.  He was signed on a short term deal and that deal was close to running out.  Then King did something unforgivable in the eyes of the Coventry “Football Fans”, he turned down a new deal and signed for local rivals Birmingham City for a reported 50% wage increase.

This was too much for some of the Coventry fans.  He was a Judas and a scumbag.  It seems that being sent to prison for Sexual Assault is forgivable but signing for another club for more money?  Utterly sickening.  What a horrible man you are, Marlon King.

In fairness, there were pockets of Coventry fans who taunted King whilst playing for Coventry with chants of “She Said No, Marlon”.  However, there were also the flipside where, as Tweeter TheBluestStar will tell you, fans were calling King’s victim a slag.  That is another horrible constant of the “Football Fan”.  Rampant misogyny and victim blaming.  This can be seen by the response to professional footballer Ched Evans being found guilty of rape.

I’m not going to link them here as I don’t want to give them the virtual oxygen that they crave.  There are people on Twitter who are convinced that Evans is innocent based on victim blaming, not understanding what consent is and, probably the most important factor for them, the team he played for.  It all goes back to the “One of ours” tribal mentality coupled with the misogynistic view that “Birds are only after a one night stand with Footballers so that they can sell their stories.  Slags”.  Had Evans played for Sheffield Wednesday and not Sheffield United, I sincerely doubt the rape apologists and victim blamers professing his innocence would still be doing so.  But, of course he’s innocent, he plays for my team.