Cynic?
Maybe I am, but I find it curious that England’s notoriously shifty Crown Prosecution Service should announce that the national football captain John Terry is to face criminal charges for alleged racial abuse, the day AFTER the FA . . . a body that is at least the equal of the CPS in shiftiness . . . announced that Liverpool’s Luis Suarez had been found guilty of a similar offence during a game against Manchester United. With the Suarez decision as a background, the CPS would have been under some very hot lights if it had decided that Terry had no case to answer, or even if it had decided that it was a football matter and had kicked it back to the FA. However I can’t help wondering: if Suarez had been acquitted, would JT be facing a date with the magistrates on February 1?
As for the Suarez case itself, I’m all for racism being kicked out of football and everywhere else, and I do not agree that there has been a witch-hunt against the player, but I cannot see that it’s appropriate to set up a court with three judges who are, an English lawyer, an English club chairman and an English football manager (who is already being accused of bias towards Man U) to judge a case involving a Frenchman and a Uruguayan in which the alleged racial abusive words and phrases were uttered in South American Spanish. The process would have been much more solid if at least one of the panel members had been a respected football figure from a South American nation, other than Brazil, where Portuguese is spoken. Ossie Ardiles comes to mind immediately, or Gus Poyet, the Brighton manager, who is Uruguayan himself, with an understanding of the culture in which Suarez grew up. Hopefully this anomaly will be corrected at appeal, so that there are no lingering doubts over the fairness of the finding.
Shall I be cynical again? Although cricket’s ICC set an appalling precedent in judging and banning three Pakistani players before their cases had come before the English court, I don’t anticipate the FA proceeding against Terry before the criminal charge is resolved fully. Therefore, I wonder: what ‘live odds’ would Bet 365 offer against the case going to trial at County Court or wherever and that process, and possibly an appeal, dragging on until at least next August, by which time Euro 2012, in which England are among the favourites, will be over? Not very long, I’d imagine.
Quintin Jardine's blog 
It will obviously be disappointing if JT has said the things he is alleged to have said in the context he is alleged to have said them. I believe – in accordance with being considered innocent until proven guilty – that there isn’t any need for him to be stripped of the England captaincy just yet, despite his trial by media. I wouldn’t trust him in female company, but he is that rare thing for a millionaire footballer: he’s prepared to put his body on the line to prevent the opposition from scoring.
Growing up, my favourite footballer was Paul Gascoigne. Did that mean I wanted to behave like him? No, I wanted to play like him, minus the self-inflicted wounds.
I can count on the fingers of one hand the number of times I have been racially abused on a football pitch; considering I’ve been playing for thirty years, that’s not too bad, although of course, once is one time too many.
The worst, or rather, the most sinister abuse I’ve had thrown at me came from unexpected quarters: there was a guy I used to play with who aimed a few unfunny comments my way, not on the pitch but in the bar afterwards – he was castigated, not only by other players in the team, but also by his girlfriend; and the team manager, who couldn’t have liked the lad much because he only selected him if we were struggling for bodies; whenever I scored, it was noticeable he didn’t run up and hug me like JT does Nicholas Anelka. But by far the worst abuse I’ve received came from a team comprising mostly of black guys, who seemed to take offence at the fact I was representing a team in which I was the only coloured player. ‘Milky bar’ or something, I can’t remember. After I broke their hearts with a 30-yard screamer, making the final score 3-2 (okay, it was more like 35 yards) I ran around a couple of them and told them that while I would have liked to have transferred to their team so as they wouldn’t liken me to a chocolate bar, I was more interested in playing alongside winners, regardless of their colour.
Suarez and Terry are great talents. In either or both cases, where transgressions have occurred, we need to see some serious remorse from any guilty parties, and a certain amount of condemnation and a lot of forgiveness and patience from the rest of us. Let’s save the outright indignation and criminal prosecutions for the BNP and their foreign counterparts.
I agree with all of that, Simon, other than the adjective ‘great’. Both are quality players, no doubt, but if Terry had started his career with Colchester, say, rather than Chelsea, where he’s been paired throughout with the likes of Desailly, Gallas, Alex and Carvalho, he might not have had the quality in his early years to break out of there.
As for the central issue, I hold to the view that the two cases are interlinked as I’ve suggested, and that it is being driven by the media or rather by the CPS/FA’s fear of the tabloid reaction. In other words, politics are involved.
As the JT/Anton affair broke, I noted a piece in the Torygraph which pointed out that the only word in JT’s outburst that it felt able to report was the one that had caused the storm. In other words, if he had simply called him (or not as the case may be) a ‘f*cking c*nt’ and a ‘f*cking kn*bhead’, that would have been acceptable language in the footballing work-place.
To me the complexity of the issue is this; to address the colour of a person’s skin in a pejorative way is a racist act, no question. But can such an act be committed by a person who is not himself fundamentally a racist, and who does in fact believe that all men are created equal regardless of the colour of their skin? I suggest that in the heat of the moment it can, and that while the attitude of a person who commits such an offence, is not an excuse, perhaps it should be taken into consideration when the matter comes to judgement.
I suspect that’s the problem that Liverpool have at the moment, and that if the JT case goes against him, that Chelsea might have also.
Hello
You may remember me, I’m probably your only life long Chelsea supporter, true fan of “Bob” and your “blog”.
Having stayed up to watch the game last night which at my age is no mean feat, even I could not fail to see the look in J T eyes when leaving the tunnel at the start of the game, fear maybe!!
Sometimes in life bad deeds catch up with you, that may not be right, but I think the phrase is something about animals and the jungle…….and the word comeuppance come to mind..
To finish on a high note, thank you for this year’s “Bob” book counting the weeks until the next… and for keeping me up to date with what is going on in the world in you blog
Special christmas wishes to you and yours
Gillian
Of course I remember you, Gillian. No comment on JT other than this; he might be a leader on the field, but that doesn’t make him a fit captain. I’ve seen the Ferdinand video; the man has no class. During the transmission last night someone mentioned the great Spurs team who beat Chelsea home and away in 1961. I was at the Stamford Bridge game; now that was class. Spurs won 3 – 2, but the best player on the field, indeed the best English player I’ve ever seen, above even Sir Bobby, was a young Jimmy Greaves, playing for Chelsea in those days.
Didn’t Greaves then go to AC Milan…Did Harris play in that game I think he went to Chelsea in 1961….As for JT he is and has always been a bully, and until that changes by what ever means, the club will not regain any of its former glory (Do you have a photograph of you at Stanford bridge…)
and does this mean you are a secret Londoner!!!!
Hope AJ’ start of his long haul journey went without delay
Byeee
Yes, he did, but he was homesick. Harris as in Chopper? No, he didn’t debut for Chelsea until the following February. Pics? No way; my dad, his pal and I were on the terracing. Secret Londoner? No, a self-confessed London-hater. I’m a villager at heart.