Sol Campbell has become progressively outspoken in recent months and yesterday he surprised listeners to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme by airing his views on what he considers the unacceptable level of abuse directed at players and managers by spectators.
The Portsmouth and England defender was the target of barracking by supporters of Tottenham Hotspur in the match at Fratton Park last weekend, as he is whenever he faces his former club. Tottenham fans have not forgiven Campbell, a former captain of the team, for joining Arsenal in 2001 and the vitriol has often taken the form of personal allegations about his private life.
After his experience on Saturday, he felt strongly enough to contact a programme that is hardly most people’s idea of a footballer’s early-morning listening, declaring that it is time for the authorities to act.
“I think it is out of hand now,” Campbell told Garry Richardson, the presenter. “We can all take the booing or light banter, but when it gets to the realms of verbal abuse, it’s a bridge too far. The FA, the PFA [Professional Footballers’ Association], even the Government should get involved. If this happened on the streets, you’d be arrested. This is a human rights situation, where professional sportsmen and managers want to do their job and people are abusing them verbally. I think it’s gone too far.”
Campbell suggested that the insults are as bad as racist chanting. “When it gets to that level of verbal abuse, there is no difference for me,” he said. “It’s harmful. They are trying to belittle you and it is downright out of order. The clubs should do something as well. Everyone should get involved.”
There was predictable delight on some Tottenham fan websites that a raw nerve had been touched and contributors on the BBC 606 site suggested that players should look at the way they behave towards match officials before complaining about their own treatment. Others believed that abuse comes with the territory for highly paid, high-profile footballers.
Campbell, though, was having none of it. “People say you’ve got to be immune to it, but I’m playing football and should not be subjected to that type of abuse,” he said. “It’s out of order now. People are letting it go by, not saying anything in the papers, clubs are doing nothing about it.
“I am an international player who has given his whole career to club and country and I think I deserve more than this. I know some people may be a little bit disgruntled at how I left certain clubs – or a club – and I totally understand that. But when you get to the level of personal abuse that I and other players are subjected to, it’s got to stop now.”
This is not the first time that Campbell, 33, has spoken out recently. In the summer he took Portsmouth to task for failing to invest more heavily in players last January and recently expressed dismay that Harry Redknapp, the manager, was considering selling players during next month’s transfer window.
However, this time he will have the support of Redknapp, who recently condemned supporters of Aston Villa for abuse aimed at him in the wake of his arrest as part of a police investigation into alleged illegal payments to players. Redknapp vehemently denies any wrongdoing. Ashley Cole, Campbell’s former Arsenal teammate, also received abuse on Sunday when he returned to the club for the first time as a Chelsea player.
Campbell plans to contact the Football Association, which he feels could take stronger action. “I think the FA has let down a few players up and down the league,” he said. “They have allowed this to continue, sat idle, head in the sand and tried to brush it under the carpet.”
The governing body responded quickly. “The FA works very closely with clubs and also with the Government in terms of pushing for legislation to clamp down on abusive, threatening or violent behaviour in football grounds,” it said. “But we have to be clear that on a match-by-match basis the responsibility lies with the individual clubs. When that behaviour goes into the realms of a criminal offence, then they must deal with it in conjunction with the police.”
reference: http://www.timesonline.co.uk
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