saabrian
28 Aug 2002, 03:17 PM
Column from the Leicester Mercury
Hypocrisy comes before sympathy
If Roy Keane is hauled up before the beak at the Football Association after the revelations made in his biography, he would appear to have a cast-iron defence.
“I refer to the case Wise versus Leicester City, M’Lud,’’ his QC starts. “A precedent was set that day by which it is okay to give common sense a good kicking.’’
The comparison with Keane is pertinent.
Since he admitted to intending to hurt opponent Alf Inge Haaland during a match, the world and his dog have been salivating.
This is an outrage, they cried, a sign of the moral malaise plaguing football – Keane should be banned for six months. It was one of the most oversubscribed bandwagons of recent times.
So why has Wise’s case elicited a good deal more sympathy from so-called experts? Former Chelsea striker Tony Cascarino said he hoped Leicester’s appeal against the decision to reinstate Wise fell flat on its face. Pundit Jonathan Pearce said he would like to know the real story, implying that there were mitigating circumstances for breaking a defender’s cheekbone. There have been no headlines citing Wise as a cancer on the game.
The coverage of the Wise fiasco has been riddled with hypocrisy. “I wonder whether Leicester wanted him off the wage bill,’’ Pearce intoned. Yes they did, but so what? That does not mean they contrived an unprovoked assault. Others suggested Wise’s record went against him, but this is what happens at sentencing time in a court of law. Why should football be different?
Take another player. Lee Bowyer is commonly held up to be the epitome of all that is wrong with football. A snarling, petulant figure famously hailed as a “scumbag’’ by the front page of The Daily Mirror, Bowyer was found not guilty of all charges relating to the assault of a student. The Football League accept that Wise was guilty of assaulting a fellow player. One is vilified and the other exonerated. The gloves are off and the blinkers on.
I believe the implication by the Football League panel is that Leicester have tried it on. The likes of Cascarino have agreed, pointing out that training-ground spats are common occurrences. They do not bother to mention that this was not a training-ground spat. It was a premeditated assault. Neither was it a fight. For that to happen both men have to throw punches.
In denying City the right to sack a player, the Football League have summed up the apathy and lack of leadership from the top of the game.
The media too should hang their heads in shame. They love nothing better than setting themselves up as moral guard-ians of the game, pointing out any miscreants with a missionary zeal.
And yet when someone commits a serious wrong, they turn the other cheek.
But how can they knock England fans for fighting when they back Wise? Anything goes in a football club is the message coming from the Football League.
This total lack of sympathy for Callum Davidson’s plight goes further.
If there were any decency in football then Wise would become an outcast. But football has a tenuous grasp on decency and Wise has been training with Watford. I hope everyone at Vicarage Road feels suitably guilty.
Gordon Taylor and the PFA have also shown their true colours. You wonder what it would take for Taylor not to back one of his members. I hope all at Leicester have cancelled their membership.
We can only hope that Wise’s case ends up in a court of law rather than a Mickey Mouse hearing.
And then, as sure as night follows day, the media will sense a story.
And maybe Cascarino, Pearce and Taylor will wake up and accept that breaking your team-mate’s cheekbone is not actually part and parcel of the beautiful game.
Hypocrisy comes before sympathy
If Roy Keane is hauled up before the beak at the Football Association after the revelations made in his biography, he would appear to have a cast-iron defence.
“I refer to the case Wise versus Leicester City, M’Lud,’’ his QC starts. “A precedent was set that day by which it is okay to give common sense a good kicking.’’
The comparison with Keane is pertinent.
Since he admitted to intending to hurt opponent Alf Inge Haaland during a match, the world and his dog have been salivating.
This is an outrage, they cried, a sign of the moral malaise plaguing football – Keane should be banned for six months. It was one of the most oversubscribed bandwagons of recent times.
So why has Wise’s case elicited a good deal more sympathy from so-called experts? Former Chelsea striker Tony Cascarino said he hoped Leicester’s appeal against the decision to reinstate Wise fell flat on its face. Pundit Jonathan Pearce said he would like to know the real story, implying that there were mitigating circumstances for breaking a defender’s cheekbone. There have been no headlines citing Wise as a cancer on the game.
The coverage of the Wise fiasco has been riddled with hypocrisy. “I wonder whether Leicester wanted him off the wage bill,’’ Pearce intoned. Yes they did, but so what? That does not mean they contrived an unprovoked assault. Others suggested Wise’s record went against him, but this is what happens at sentencing time in a court of law. Why should football be different?
Take another player. Lee Bowyer is commonly held up to be the epitome of all that is wrong with football. A snarling, petulant figure famously hailed as a “scumbag’’ by the front page of The Daily Mirror, Bowyer was found not guilty of all charges relating to the assault of a student. The Football League accept that Wise was guilty of assaulting a fellow player. One is vilified and the other exonerated. The gloves are off and the blinkers on.
I believe the implication by the Football League panel is that Leicester have tried it on. The likes of Cascarino have agreed, pointing out that training-ground spats are common occurrences. They do not bother to mention that this was not a training-ground spat. It was a premeditated assault. Neither was it a fight. For that to happen both men have to throw punches.
In denying City the right to sack a player, the Football League have summed up the apathy and lack of leadership from the top of the game.
The media too should hang their heads in shame. They love nothing better than setting themselves up as moral guard-ians of the game, pointing out any miscreants with a missionary zeal.
And yet when someone commits a serious wrong, they turn the other cheek.
But how can they knock England fans for fighting when they back Wise? Anything goes in a football club is the message coming from the Football League.
This total lack of sympathy for Callum Davidson’s plight goes further.
If there were any decency in football then Wise would become an outcast. But football has a tenuous grasp on decency and Wise has been training with Watford. I hope everyone at Vicarage Road feels suitably guilty.
Gordon Taylor and the PFA have also shown their true colours. You wonder what it would take for Taylor not to back one of his members. I hope all at Leicester have cancelled their membership.
We can only hope that Wise’s case ends up in a court of law rather than a Mickey Mouse hearing.
And then, as sure as night follows day, the media will sense a story.
And maybe Cascarino, Pearce and Taylor will wake up and accept that breaking your team-mate’s cheekbone is not actually part and parcel of the beautiful game.