Rohan Ricketts: How blind loyalty has sent fans' moral compasses spinning out of control
Former Arsenal and Tottenham midfielder Rohan Ricketts is the creator of online magazine Column 10 . This is his first piece for MirrorFootball...
Racegate continues to rumble on with Luis Suarez’ refusal to shake Patrice Evra’s hand in Liverpool's defeat at Manchester United last Saturday, I wanted to give you my perspective.
I have been on the receiving end of racism throughout my career and anyone who read about my most recent encounter at PAOK will know that I prefer to take the wind out of the abuse. Every player is entitled to deal with it in the way they see fit.
What has amazed me with the recent Suarez and Terry cases is the way that the fans have responded.
The official word is that racism is unacceptable in today’s society and we are trying to fight it with initiatives such as the Kick It Out campaign. But all of this is just ‘words’ if it isn’t supported by the fans. Hearing Chelsea fans booing Rio Ferdinand the other week, apparently because his brother is at the centre of a court case involving alleged racial abuse from one of their squad, was astounding to me.
Fans are so quick to judge footballers and their "lack of moral compass" - just look at the reaction when Wayne Rooney swore to the camera in a moment of passion - yet they seem to lack one themselves.
In any other walk of life I don’t believe that anyone would support someone who had been found guilty of using racist language, as Suarez has. He didn't appeal the decision.
Yet in football, fans seem to forgive anything. Perhaps they have become so used to supporting their team and swearing that it was a free kick, foul, penalty etc that they just continue to blindly defend them on more important matters too.
It seems that in football the loyalty is to the badge, but that badge is only ever as good as person wearing it.
How are those Chelsea fans going to justify booing an England player to their kids who were with them in the crowd? I asked my Twitter followers - I Tweet from @RohanRicketts - and had some replies from Chelsea fans who said they were booing mostly because they don’t like Rio. But you can’t cross wires like this.
I know football is a competitive sport and players and fans alike do everything they can to put the other side off. There is a place for lighthearted banter about the stadium, city, club, even individual players.
But it must be related to their football, not the colour of their skin.
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