I think after everything today, a huge point has been lost. Amidst the whole diatribe “remember when ‘x’ player did this”, ‘x’ player is racist”, “you haven’t won “’x’ amount of trophies in ‘x’ amount of years”, you’re missing the whole reason for the anger over what happened today. And I’m not interested to hear stories over people starting arguments over certain things. you all have your own independent thoughts and moral compasses, think for yourselves and don’t get caught up in this stupid petty bullshit.

A) Bringing up other players who have done bad things in the past, from different teams or whatever, does not diminish what your current players do, or current events. Each event should be treated with its own severity, and not be used to trivialise another team’s hurt or sense of being wronged for the sake of defending your own team. As per usual, the line between “banter” or “rivalry” becomes severely blurred, and becomes hateful in the most purest form, its toxic and harmful. 

B) Who gives a fuck about who has won what and when. It literally has no correlation between success and discussing violence within a sport.

C) Racism deserves its own conversation, and should not be used to make petty arguments against other teams. It is a serious topic, not a pissing point.

And if you all haven’t guessed yet, this particular post is about the Arsenal vs. Chelsea game (19.9.15).

In what way is it okay for a player to grab an opponents face and push it away, and in what way is it okay for the same player to chest an opponent and knock them down? And for neither offence to be punished with the appropriate decision, which is a red card?

YES, Gabriel did react to Diego Costa’s actions, but do you know what? He wouldn’t have been reacting to anything if the proper course of action was taken to punish Costa for the initial offence. 

[link to face-grab / chest incident]

And I’d also like to say, nobody saw Zouma grab Gabriel’s neck, which I kind of understand since he was being crowded by Chelsea players, but there is evidence of it. ANOTHER RED CARD OFFENCE.

I’d love to list the long line of Costa offences that makes it so SIMPLE for officiating staff at games to know when to punish Costa, and see through his provocative bullshit, this is going to be about a much deeper problem:

The continuous decline of refereeing in games.

Violent conduct is quite clearly outlined on the FA’s RULES AND GOVERNANCE page. In which, “violent conduct” is considered to be an offence worthy of a straight red card. Ergo, Costa’s pushing of Koscielny’s face is a red card. Costa should have been sent off, and Gabriel would have not done anything. But let’s say, okay, the face-grab is a bit naughty, but let’s just caution Costa. Okay, but oh wait, what? He’s chested Koscielny to the ground? Okay. Now THAT is a red card. See ya. But NO. Nothing. Zip. Nada. Costa remains.

It’s wrong. It’s so wrong. These referees continue to be afraid, to not police unacceptable behaviour, which only encourages people like Costa to manipulate the system, to get a retaliation from the opposition and receive no repercussions himself. It’s poor. It’s embarrassing. A man grabs your face on the street, a man knocks you down in the street, the police are involved, you make a report. This behaviour in a sport, where it is not allowed, SHOULD NOT suddenly be deemed “part of the game”. Or even described by some pundits as “match winning behaviour”, or “clever”, “street smart”. 

And you know what, you might argue that referees shouldn’t have to deal with such extremes. But if they, along with governing bodies, enforced the rules properly and consistently, players would not feel they could get away with this sort of thing. Players would learn to conduct themselves in an appropriate manner. And people on the internet wouldn’t be making such pathetic attempts to defend their team and bash another.

I’d like to think we could all take the same stance on this subject, that violence in football is unacceptable, provoking or manipulating an opponent is not in the spirit of the game, and only continues this “football thug” stereotype that outside people think of us and our players. So I’m not angry for no reason, I’m not making excuses as to why we lost, heck I can’t even really recall analysing how Arsenal played today, because I was so enraged that yet another case of violence was being treated so mildly.

And if people know me, they know I am the first to be angry when one of my own does something inappropriate. I don’t shy away from admitting their wrong doing because I expect myself to uphold the things I’m preaching.

So, it’s not about being better than another, about “banter”. If you want to be happy about your team’s win, fine. But show a little humility, and recognise the way in which some of your team conducts itself is abhorrent and not okay.