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Steven Cohen: Has soccer lost its human decency?
Between recent allegations of racism in England and the death of dozens in Egypt, Steven Cohen wonders where the humanity is in soccer.
Feb 5, 2012 9:53:00 PM
By Steven Cohen
Getty
For the past few weeks in this space I have been wondering why there is such a lack of human decency and lack of care for the human condition within our damaged sport.
I have largely been mocked and jeered about it and told to go and do something else. I am still weighing up my options on that.
This past week no matter where I looked I have seen things that have made me ask where the decency in soccer went. Think I am making this up? Look at the first three stories on Sky Sports between last Wednesday and Friday. Where is the care for and of our game, our human condition and where is our care of life?
In London this week, the likely future England manager is defending himself on charges of tax evasion and looking pretty guilty while losing his self control.
Just down the street, the now former England captain was having a plea of not guilty entered for him to a charge of racial abuse from last October.
The FA board met Friday and acted with “swift” and decisive action. It acted with a reverse of the cowardice it displayed last week when allowing Chelsea and QPR to cancel pre-game handshakes, with the very same individual at the heart of the problem. The FA board took the issue out of Fabio Capello’s hands and said -- quite correctly but without prejudicing John Terry in any way -- that the national team captain must be beyond reproach and John Terry can no longer captain the national side until this matter is resolved.
This decision, which was the board's to make, was the right call, but doesn’t go far enough. Terry should not be available for selection until the entire matter is concluded. Where is the logic in one but not the other? If the verdict is in his favor then reinstate him. Heading to a major tournament this cannot be hanging over the England camp. Imagine Terry playing next to the brother of the very man he is charged with racially abusing.
Terry has now lost the England armband twice in his career. Once would have been enough for me but twice should be the death knell of his international career. Both incidents have been for issues of character and nothing to do with his ability (although that surely has deteriorated as well). One suspects that if he had any real character he would fall on his sword and let everyone off the hook. He is not the victim here, try as he and Chelsea fans might to make you think he is.
As a footnote, Terry might want to look to his own club for what has happened so swiftly this week.
It was a letter from Ron Gourlay, Chelsea’s Managing Director, that asked the court to delay the trial. In Chelsea’s letter, the club laughably claimed that it was still in the title race, and stated that with the Champions League resuming this month, fixture congestion made it too cumbersome to deal with this matter now.
Additionally, the club was suggesting, although one cannot really believe it was being serious when it did so, that it might be involved in the Champions League final in late May and thus Terry’s own testimony and that of any teammates would be hard to secure with such a busy schedule. Of course it is also important to remember that these people play soccer. They are not seeking a cure for cancer. Why the courts are bending over backwards is hard to fathom.
Next time you are due in court I hope you are given your choice of date when you can show up so it’s all not too inconvenient.
When I look at the footage of the Terry incident - you know, the footage where censors blur out Terry’s mouth so we can’t lip-read what we know he actually says - it occurs to me that there should be need for only one witness. Jon Obi Mikel is right in front of Terry in every frame; would he not have heard every word? Has anyone thought to ask him?
And on Wednesday we wept
As we started to see the scenes coming from Port Said we got confirmation of just how grisly and awful things within this game currently are and how little has been learned down the years.
Seventy-nine people are said to be dead, 11 of them police and security forces, after a riot occurred when one of Egypt’s biggest teams, Al-Alhy, was surprisingly beaten 3-1 by lowly Al- Masry.
The Egyptian FA has been disbanded and the Egyptian Premier League is on full suspension and no one can argue with those decisions.
It is beyond sad. There are no words to describe the events. There are no words to describe the loss of life, and there are certainly no words that are going to comfort the mothers and fathers, husbands and wives and children of those not coming home.
With that in mind, let's be clear and honest about a few things.
As you hear more and more reports of how the police, security forces and ambulance services are the only ones to blame for what happened, don't believe it.
They had nothing to do with it. This was simply down to people behaving appallingly and terrible consequences being the result of that appalling human behavior.
Let's call it what it was and not obfuscate the issue. It was not the police or the ambulance services throwing those flares, charging onto the field, trampling over others and beating people senseless. This was down to a group of people who wanted to cause trouble and they did so with devastating effect, using soccer as their shield. This is down to reckless human behavior not what certain human beings do for a living. This is on the fans, nobody else.
And consider this, if you would: If you were an Egyptian policeman making 400 Egyptian pounds a month, with a wife and kids to support, is this really how you think you should be losing your life? I would have walked the other way. Madness is madness however you wrap it up.
Sorry, but soccer and its thugs are not worth dying for.
Follow STEVEN COHEN on
Over the course of time, I have been involved with the sport. It has been put to me about American sports that they lack the passion and tribalism of world soccer. I have always thought that it had more to do with the vast distances teams travel. But in essence, America has it right. Who needs this kind of passion and this kind of tribalism?
In American sports, which have every bit of the on-field drama, I rarely hear about deadly riots, racism and lawlessness.
In America, sports are the toy department of life. As such they are enjoyed, watched and consumed with fervor, but that is where it ends. Nobody is interested in getting his or her head beaten in over sport. And, when on the rare occasion when it does happen, as in the case of the Giants fan beaten by two Dodgers fans, the police take it seriously and investigate it as a serious crime. In that example, we see it for what it is: two individuals wanting to cause trouble and harm and doing so. When they are caught, they will go to prison. In American sports we blame those who need to be blamed, we don’t run from it.
If Lakers fans riot after an NBA title, we don’t blame the police for the actions of the fans. If Vancouver fans riot after losing the Stanley Cup, we hold those rioting accountable, not the police.
I have often heard parents say to children, “I love you, but sometimes I don’t like you very much.” Well, that is how I currently feel about soccer.
I want stories of genius on the field to be the lead stories on our sports news every night, not these revolting issues that speak to an awful lack of the human condition and decency, and I wish it would stop.
My word, even Lionel Messi missed a penalty this week. The world is upside down indeed!
I have largely been mocked and jeered about it and told to go and do something else. I am still weighing up my options on that.
This past week no matter where I looked I have seen things that have made me ask where the decency in soccer went. Think I am making this up? Look at the first three stories on Sky Sports between last Wednesday and Friday. Where is the care for and of our game, our human condition and where is our care of life?
In London this week, the likely future England manager is defending himself on charges of tax evasion and looking pretty guilty while losing his self control.
Just down the street, the now former England captain was having a plea of not guilty entered for him to a charge of racial abuse from last October.
The FA board met Friday and acted with “swift” and decisive action. It acted with a reverse of the cowardice it displayed last week when allowing Chelsea and QPR to cancel pre-game handshakes, with the very same individual at the heart of the problem. The FA board took the issue out of Fabio Capello’s hands and said -- quite correctly but without prejudicing John Terry in any way -- that the national team captain must be beyond reproach and John Terry can no longer captain the national side until this matter is resolved.
This decision, which was the board's to make, was the right call, but doesn’t go far enough. Terry should not be available for selection until the entire matter is concluded. Where is the logic in one but not the other? If the verdict is in his favor then reinstate him. Heading to a major tournament this cannot be hanging over the England camp. Imagine Terry playing next to the brother of the very man he is charged with racially abusing.
Terry has now lost the England armband twice in his career. Once would have been enough for me but twice should be the death knell of his international career. Both incidents have been for issues of character and nothing to do with his ability (although that surely has deteriorated as well). One suspects that if he had any real character he would fall on his sword and let everyone off the hook. He is not the victim here, try as he and Chelsea fans might to make you think he is.
As a footnote, Terry might want to look to his own club for what has happened so swiftly this week.
It was a letter from Ron Gourlay, Chelsea’s Managing Director, that asked the court to delay the trial. In Chelsea’s letter, the club laughably claimed that it was still in the title race, and stated that with the Champions League resuming this month, fixture congestion made it too cumbersome to deal with this matter now.
Additionally, the club was suggesting, although one cannot really believe it was being serious when it did so, that it might be involved in the Champions League final in late May and thus Terry’s own testimony and that of any teammates would be hard to secure with such a busy schedule. Of course it is also important to remember that these people play soccer. They are not seeking a cure for cancer. Why the courts are bending over backwards is hard to fathom.
Next time you are due in court I hope you are given your choice of date when you can show up so it’s all not too inconvenient.
When I look at the footage of the Terry incident - you know, the footage where censors blur out Terry’s mouth so we can’t lip-read what we know he actually says - it occurs to me that there should be need for only one witness. Jon Obi Mikel is right in front of Terry in every frame; would he not have heard every word? Has anyone thought to ask him?
And on Wednesday we wept
As we started to see the scenes coming from Port Said we got confirmation of just how grisly and awful things within this game currently are and how little has been learned down the years.
Seventy-nine people are said to be dead, 11 of them police and security forces, after a riot occurred when one of Egypt’s biggest teams, Al-Alhy, was surprisingly beaten 3-1 by lowly Al- Masry.
The Egyptian FA has been disbanded and the Egyptian Premier League is on full suspension and no one can argue with those decisions.
It is beyond sad. There are no words to describe the events. There are no words to describe the loss of life, and there are certainly no words that are going to comfort the mothers and fathers, husbands and wives and children of those not coming home.
With that in mind, let's be clear and honest about a few things.
As you hear more and more reports of how the police, security forces and ambulance services are the only ones to blame for what happened, don't believe it.
They had nothing to do with it. This was simply down to people behaving appallingly and terrible consequences being the result of that appalling human behavior.
Let's call it what it was and not obfuscate the issue. It was not the police or the ambulance services throwing those flares, charging onto the field, trampling over others and beating people senseless. This was down to a group of people who wanted to cause trouble and they did so with devastating effect, using soccer as their shield. This is down to reckless human behavior not what certain human beings do for a living. This is on the fans, nobody else.
And consider this, if you would: If you were an Egyptian policeman making 400 Egyptian pounds a month, with a wife and kids to support, is this really how you think you should be losing your life? I would have walked the other way. Madness is madness however you wrap it up.
Sorry, but soccer and its thugs are not worth dying for.
Follow STEVEN COHEN on
Over the course of time, I have been involved with the sport. It has been put to me about American sports that they lack the passion and tribalism of world soccer. I have always thought that it had more to do with the vast distances teams travel. But in essence, America has it right. Who needs this kind of passion and this kind of tribalism?
In American sports, which have every bit of the on-field drama, I rarely hear about deadly riots, racism and lawlessness.
In America, sports are the toy department of life. As such they are enjoyed, watched and consumed with fervor, but that is where it ends. Nobody is interested in getting his or her head beaten in over sport. And, when on the rare occasion when it does happen, as in the case of the Giants fan beaten by two Dodgers fans, the police take it seriously and investigate it as a serious crime. In that example, we see it for what it is: two individuals wanting to cause trouble and harm and doing so. When they are caught, they will go to prison. In American sports we blame those who need to be blamed, we don’t run from it.
If Lakers fans riot after an NBA title, we don’t blame the police for the actions of the fans. If Vancouver fans riot after losing the Stanley Cup, we hold those rioting accountable, not the police.
I have often heard parents say to children, “I love you, but sometimes I don’t like you very much.” Well, that is how I currently feel about soccer.
I want stories of genius on the field to be the lead stories on our sports news every night, not these revolting issues that speak to an awful lack of the human condition and decency, and I wish it would stop.
My word, even Lionel Messi missed a penalty this week. The world is upside down indeed!
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