Before I went to bed last night, I was surfing Twitter to see if any interesting news stories had popped up. After refreshing my feed a couple of times, I spot a piece saying Roy Hodgson has been caught up in a race-storm over a ‘monkey joke’ during the Poland qualifier.
The headline was enough to shock me, but reading on through the piece stunned me even more: the story hinged on Hodgson using a joke about a ‘space monkey’ in an analogy to emphasise the importance of passing the ball to Andros Townsend.
Not exactly the kind of thing I expected upon opening the tab. The paper then claimed that ‘at least one player’ believed the joke had racist undertones to it. Which is frankly ludicrous.
Ludicrous that the paper would claim ‘at least one player’, when journalists who printed the story were actually saying it was just the ONE player who leaked the story to them. Typical mountain out of a molehill stuff.
Ludicrous in another sense that the player believed that Roy Hodgson, one of, if not THE most well-travelled English coach of his generation would make a racist comment in the middle of one of the most important matches of his career. Or even that he would harbour such thoughts in the first place.
There have been those who have said Roy should have known better than to use a joke with the word ‘monkey’ in it, especially in an ethnically-diverse dressing room such as England’s.
Utter rubbish.
Two things arise from this frankly idiotic assumption. One: people, not just footballers and managers, will become afraid of using everyday words that have been despicably used as vehicles for racist abuse in the presence of different ethnicities. Two: we begin to insult the intelligence of those people of different ethnicities who know the difference between a racial slur and everyday conversation.
Thanfully, Townsend – a player who seems to be a grounded and clever young man – took to his Twitter feed to state: 'I don't know what all this fuss is about. No offence was meant and none was taken! It's not even news worthy!'
Could the episode affect Hodgson’s preparations for 2014? If it was actually a case of the manager racially abusing a player, the answer would be, without a doubt, yes. As it happens, I feel this may actually bring an already close squad even closer together. The media often seem to do no favours for England, and this latest incident is yet more evidence of that. The way certain players, including Rooney and Townsend, have responded, you would have to say the players are fully behind the manager and their teammates.
To finish with, I’d like to draw attention to a Tweet by French football writer and musician Philippe Auclair (@PhilippeAuclair). After the news broke last night, he wrote: 'A racist, example of: someone who thinks that the word 'monkey' automatically refers to a non-white person. To be pitied, not hated.'
Just a thought for all the journalists out there who were quick to jump on this story.
Min deposit requirement. Free Bets are paid as Bet Credits and are available for use upon settlement of qualifying bets. Min odds, bet and payment method exclusions apply. Returns exclude Bet Credits stake. Time limits and T&Cs apply
Click to ClaimSam publishes regular feature and tips pieces for Howtobet4free. He has a blog, crackingjabulanis.blogspot.co.uk, and can be found on Twitter by following @Gaytski.
