Monthly Archives: April 2011

Following his 2 match ban for swearing in United’s recent 4-2 victory over West Ham many people have come to the defense of the “innocent” Wayne Rooney from players like Rio Ferdinand who tweeted in defense of Wayne who was apparently caught up in the moment, and also from more esteemed characters such as Gordon Taylor who argues that players should be made aware if there is a change in the rules regarding use of foul and abusive language. It was even debated on Radio 5 asking the question “Whats the big deal about swearing?” although that is a bigger question for another day. So is Wayne being made an example of unfairly or is this the type of punishment which will start to clean up the beautiful game.

Although I for one think that Rooney is a mindless uneducated thug I do agree with Rio’s sentiments. When on the pitch and caught up in the passion of scoring a goal you will see players shouting and screaming and probably not thinking about what they are saying. I am also going to assume that in most footballers vocabulary expletives feature regularly. I also agree with Gordon Taylor that if the FA are suddenly going to start banning players for using bad language on the pitch then maybe they ought to forewarn the players who, let’s be honest, have been swearing freely for many years without ever getting banned.

There are however problems with both these opinions. Firstly Rooney does not just swear in the way you might if you stub your toe screaming at the moment of frustration, pain or in Rooney’s case ecstasy – it is a good 30 seconds after the goal is scored and furthermore he actually seeks the camera out making a statement to the camera, much like he did famously after England’s 0-0 draw with Algeria. By seeking out the camera he is committing what was the biggest sin of all and what makes this such an inexcusable act, he was specifically communicating with the millions of viewers many of whom would be children with his vulgar and unacceptable language.

Now it is not that far-fetched to suggest that he could not make the connection between the TV camera and that picture and sound being broadcast across the world to millions of viewers – but sheer stupidity can no longer be an excuse for these ridiculously high paid sportsman, responsibility needs to be taken at some point. Whether they like it or not footballers are role models and it really is only the minimum levels of behavior that are being asked e.g. don’t get drunk and punch people, don’t go to brothels and don’t swear into TV cameras.

Now to Gordon Taylor’s point. Surely we should not have to inform footballers that they are not allowed to swear directly into TV cameras. When Eric Cantona kung-fu kicked a fan, I am not sure anyone suggested that this was acceptable because players had not specifically been told they were not allowed to do it. The next point I will raise is that the FA is not the first to ban a player for use of foul and abusive language to TV camera’s – I think we will all remember Didier Drogba throwing his toys out of the pram in the most spectacular fashion after Chelsea got knocked out of Europe by Barcelona, in this case the ban was 3 matches – maybe Rooney can consider himself lucky.

Mr. Taylor also raises the issue of swearing at referees which it seems he considers more of an issue than swearing at fans – but for this there is something that the recipient can do about it to instantly stop it, they can produce a red card. Fans do not have that luxury. Rooney has had his fair share of disciplinary issues and has for the most part got away with a fine or just giving an apology – so if “previous” is taken into account then the ban seems fair.

It would be interesting to know whether a player has ever been caught doing something similar and if it is Rooney’s status that has afforded him such punishment.

I for one would like football cleaned up and think that players should be cited for cheating and other undesirable behaviour. For example if Rooney is banned for 2 matches for his actions then surely when a player is caught swearing at an official on TV, which you probably see about 10 times every live match, then surely that should warrant a 1 match ban. Actually it is the referees job to cut this out which some reason they 90% of the time chose not to, preferring to book players for kicking the ball away or god forbid celebrating with their adoring fans when scoring a goal (probably the most ludicrous rule ever).

I hope that the FA’s actions will simply act as a reminder to players that they need to behave in a certain manner when on the pitch and not turn into a trend with every player seen swearing anywhere a TV camera is suddenly facing a ban.

The other solution would be to take off the mics which are picking the players voices when they are celebrating – so we are just left with the standard mics picking up the stadium atmosphere – but that may be a bit to simple.

Anyway, with important games coming up and the usual end of season fixture congestion I think the ban may have a silver lining and give Rooney an enforced rest, and needless to say i do not think him or anyone will be swearing into camera’s for quite some time.