SOCcer King
06 Jan 2006, 02:02 PM
http://football.guardian.co.uk/News_Story/0,1563,1680380,00.html
Next on Ferguson's wish list is a central midfielder to replace Roy Keane but in the meantime he is facing calls for an apology after joking that he was hoping for an outbreak of malaria at Chelsea. His comment in the aftermath of United's scoreless draw against Arsenal was clearly tongue in cheek but it was condemned by the Malaria Foundation International.
"It was obviously an off-the-cuff remark but it was also highly insensitive and inappropriate and an apology is due. It's making light of a killer disease and a major worldwide disaster," Dr Mary Galinski, who runs the Atlanta-based organisation, said last night. "My first reaction when I heard it was: 'Oh my God!' He may as well have said: 'Wouldn't it be great if a tsunami hit where Chelsea are playing?' People would be outraged but it's effectively the same thing.
"Malaria is not just a statistic. When we talk about numbers - 3,000 kids dying every day and one to three million every year - these are real children we are talking about. I wonder how they would feel in the village schools in Africa to hear that someone in Britain has come out with something so extremely offensive."
Ferguson made the remark on television as he talked about Chelsea's 13-point advantage at the top of the Premiership. "You never know - malaria might hit the camp," he said. "We've got to hope something like that happens."
"This comes on top of worrying new reports that a growing number of people in England are coming back from abroad with malaria and dying from the disease," said Galinski.
It is highly unlikely Ferguson's joke was well received within Stamford Bridge either. Gérémi, Michael Essien and Didier Drogba come from three of the countries worst affected by malaria - Cameroon, Ghana and the Ivory Coast respectively. Portsmouth's Congolese international striker Lomana LuaLua suffered an attack this season and Ferguson is probably better off not repeating the joke in front of Evra either, given that the new signing was born in Senegal, another badly affected country.
:D
Next on Ferguson's wish list is a central midfielder to replace Roy Keane but in the meantime he is facing calls for an apology after joking that he was hoping for an outbreak of malaria at Chelsea. His comment in the aftermath of United's scoreless draw against Arsenal was clearly tongue in cheek but it was condemned by the Malaria Foundation International.
"It was obviously an off-the-cuff remark but it was also highly insensitive and inappropriate and an apology is due. It's making light of a killer disease and a major worldwide disaster," Dr Mary Galinski, who runs the Atlanta-based organisation, said last night. "My first reaction when I heard it was: 'Oh my God!' He may as well have said: 'Wouldn't it be great if a tsunami hit where Chelsea are playing?' People would be outraged but it's effectively the same thing.
"Malaria is not just a statistic. When we talk about numbers - 3,000 kids dying every day and one to three million every year - these are real children we are talking about. I wonder how they would feel in the village schools in Africa to hear that someone in Britain has come out with something so extremely offensive."
Ferguson made the remark on television as he talked about Chelsea's 13-point advantage at the top of the Premiership. "You never know - malaria might hit the camp," he said. "We've got to hope something like that happens."
"This comes on top of worrying new reports that a growing number of people in England are coming back from abroad with malaria and dying from the disease," said Galinski.
It is highly unlikely Ferguson's joke was well received within Stamford Bridge either. Gérémi, Michael Essien and Didier Drogba come from three of the countries worst affected by malaria - Cameroon, Ghana and the Ivory Coast respectively. Portsmouth's Congolese international striker Lomana LuaLua suffered an attack this season and Ferguson is probably better off not repeating the joke in front of Evra either, given that the new signing was born in Senegal, another badly affected country.
:D