One rule for Wayne Rooney and one for everyone else
On Sunday, Wayne Rooney mouthed two words to the camera and caused a media storm. How, you may ask, can two words cause such a ruckus in the media? Were they swear words? Were they abusive words? No, he said “twelve” and “men.” On there own, these two words are entirely innocent but put them together in a footballing context, they have caused controversy. Why have they done so? Basically because it was Wayne Rooney that said them.
Anyone else with a lower public profile, Darren Fletcher, Anderson or Edwin Van der Sar would probably have gotten away with the remark but as it was Rooney, he was warned by his future conduct by the FA. I have no problem with the FA doing this however. Rooney must lead by example in his conduct, as young kids may see his remark and believe it was okay to accuse refs of bias. It no doubt damages the “respect” campaign which has been campaigning in vain to stop the abuse of referees by players and managers alike.
What I cannot accept however is that this remark by Rooney can be anyway compared by Drogba’s remarks after the Champions League semi-final second leg against Barcelona. No matter how upset and how justified you feel in making them, Drogba’s intimidation of the referee and his rant on camera were inexcusable and totally justified his three match ban for his comments.
The controversy over Rooney’s remarks I believe is however coated with Rooney’s own disciplinary history. Denoted to be a “crazy man” by Fabio Capello, Rooney does wear his heart on his sleeve and on many occasion his temper has got the better of him. His worst moment came when he was sent off in the World Cup quarter final against Portugal in 2006, but since then his discipline has improved and he has had only three yellow cards this season.
It will always be part of Rooney’s game and I don’t think anyone would want to take away the passion that drives the man forward to bigger and better things in the game. As long as, of course, it doesn’t cost us in a crucial game in the World Cup. It was effectively two words which could be interpreted in many ways, no foul and abusive rant and no real harm caused to the referee. The warning by the FA to his future conduct should be enough but as always where the media is concerned, they love to embroil themselves in a good contentious story. It sells newspapers and people will always enjoy reading about a player who captures the imagination as well as providing moments of controversy.
Football News 24/7
The point is that Rooney’s fury emanated from yet another appalling refereeing display involving Chelsea that has cost United. For a guy who gives 110% effort in every game he plays it must be a complete kick in the guts to watch United’s main title contenders handed the game on a plate by Atkinson’s ineptitude, missing one incident after another – the only thing he couldn’t be blamed for was the idiotic decision by the half blind linesman to call Rooney offside when he was clear through and one on one with Cesc with every prospect of scoring. It’s even worse that this has to occur against a side like Chelsea, a team replete with some of the most cynical and dirty practitioners of gamesmanship and cheating that I’ve ever seen, from Terry and Ballack, to Drogba and Cole, the latter two of whom put on display two of the best con jobs of the season during the game, Cole jumping up theatrically to earn a foul off Fletcher, and Drogba writhing around spastically after trying to deliberately clean up Evans while he was in the air heading the ball. If that isn’t bad enough, we then have Liverpool earning a penalty the day after from one of the most disgusting and cynical dives I’ve seen in a long time.
And I say all this as someone who found some of Ronaldo’s performances equally appalling. The only difference is that he became so renowned for his diving that it began to work against him in his last season or two in the EPL, so much so that opponents began hacking him down with virtual impunity because the refs were so leery of being conned yet again by the Portuguese wonder boy.
Reply
Who’s ‘Cesc’, ya ballbag!
Reply
written like a true sour grape. remember last hyear after the chelsea barca game calling us whiners for complaining against complete incompetence, well what goes around comes around live with it ya loser.
Reply
I agree with Timbo but I understand that Evan’s studs have made a full recovery and may even be available for the next match.
Reply