There’s nothing more delightfully British than going to a football ground on a Saturday afternoon, buying a pint and a pork pie, and traversing up the stands to your seat. It’s a tradition that has served as the bedrock for countless father and son relationships and male friendships over generations and one that shows no sign of ebbing away anytime soon.
What makes the beautiful game so alluring is its escapist tendencies. Even if it’s just for 90 minutes, all of the world’s problems dissipate and are forgotten about. Individual struggles and demons don’t seem to matter and have no relevance in the pantheon of football stadia. For just under two hours, the world stands still.
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Worrying Protesting Trend
Or at least that’s how it used to be. You see, a worrying trend has developed recently, one so frightening it threatens to jeopardise the sanctity of our national sport - the act of so-called political protests at football matches.
On St. Patrick’s Day, a game between Everton and Newcastle United was halted due to the latest round of nonsense. A fan, and I use that word lightly, lept from his seat, tied himself to a goalpost, and disrupted play for several minutes in the name of protest. The same thing happened at a game between Liverpool and Arsenal only a few days later. Don’t they realise sport is meant to unite us?
Just Stop Oil, the movement that these fans were representing, is yet another non-football related group that has introduced themselves to the public by plundering the pitch and making everyone’s day slightly worse.
Much like the mega-annoying Extinction Rebellion, Just Stop Oil is aimed at the so-called ‘elite’ and seems to get its kicks by annoying people and forcing their agenda down our throats. They claim to be non-violent, but don’t you dare disagree with them on anything.
Players Joining The Protesting Scene
But it isn’t just the fans who’ve become politically radicalised. Now even the players themselves consider themselves social justice warriors and geopolitical experts.
Football is, and should always remain, apolitical and should be free from any outside interference. Did Bobby Charlton ever delay kick off to talk to the fans about the Vietnam War? No, he showed his class and let his football do the talking for him. Sir Bobby was too busy lifting World Cups and guiding his club back from the ashes to engage in soft political claptrap and long winded written statements about occupied countries.
Whether it’s due to the ever-growing softness of today’s generation or simply an overcompensation for their lack of on-pitch success, modern footballers seem to have a chip on their shoulder when it comes to politics. After all, it’s easy to blame a dismal defeat due to the ‘stress’ of ongoing world events and talk about how their ‘feelings’ are to blame for poor performances.
It’s a convenient and unacceptable excuse and one that can’t be questioned due to fear of feeling the wrath of today’s cancel culture pandemic.
Call me crazy, but this ‘sensitive footballer’ archetype is a distinctly 2010s creation. I challenge you to name me a great past footballer with these tendencies. Needless to say, you’ll be struggling and you’ll almost certainly be the one with egg on your face at the end.
Much like certain members of our Royal Family, modern footballers have allowed themselves to be corrupted by PC Hollywood-types who care more about social media followers than respecting tradition.
Show Protesters The Red Card!
Football has long been recognizable from the tough-tacking, trash talking, macho spectacle it used to be. FA Cup finals, for example, used to be played with grit, aggression, and dogged determination - all under the ever-watchful eye of Her Majesty in attendance.
Now, they’re woke political ‘solidarity’ events contested by players who haven’t got a scooby about what the trophy actually means. It is, and I don’t use this word often, a disgrace.
Let’s show politics the red card. It’s time we realised that the only acceptable dividing line in football should be the teams you support, and not what the latest flavour of the month is in the political world.
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