The irony of this is enjoyable, but Icke speaks sense here, Kevin ...look and learn

'Here's An Idea Spurs Fans - Grow Up And Get a Life!'

DID you notice the new "in" word in tennis commentary over these past two weeks of Wimbledon? It's "re-group" and it appears to come from the nation that also gave us "hospitalization", "momentarily" and "have a nice day".

Whenever someone was in trouble, having a bad time, losing, or sitting out a rain break, we were informed by McEnroe, Lloyd and Shriver that the player had to go away and "re-group". How on earth an individual is supposed to "re-group" was never explained, but then the American continent has long been the Alamo of the English language. Or, judging by the sights you see at the fast food "restaurants", the Battle of the Bulge.

It would seem that the "re-groupers" were suggesting that the player had to look again at what they were doing and the way they were doing it. They had to re-think their attitudes, approach and game plan.

It occurred to me that it is, therefore, time for many Spurs fans to "re-group". And during this painful process of self-reappraisal, those who have been hurling abuse at Sol Campbell might begin by looking in the nearest mirror and asking themselves what it is that makes them behave like a bunch of monumental prats. Yes, that would be a good start. And then they might question their reflected image a little further on why, after 20, 30 or 40 years and more on this planet, they have still yet to get a life.

We live in a vast universe within a multi-dimensional infinity. Even according to conventional (and stunningly limited) science, there are billions of galaxies and a billion trillion stars in the known universe. This planet alone is 25,000 miles across and presents a teeming mass of people and possibility. There is conflict, suffering and poverty, as there is beauty, peace and immense riches. It is an explosion of potential experience and knowledge. There is so much to get angry, passionate and incensed about too. Like the abuse of children, the vast inequality of wealth and the daily destruction of individual and collective freedom.

But out of all this bubbling cauldron of human experience, the event that makes the blood boil among many in North London is the fact that a bloke who used to kick a ball while wearing white and blue clothes has chosen, at the end of his contract, to go a few miles down the road and kick a ball while wearing white and red.

I read in this website's Have Your Say mailbox section that Campbell should even be careful of going out in North London after his "treachery". Oh my, these guys have a lot of "re-grouping" to do.

Football is a wonderful game and generates understandable excitement and commitment (you should have seen our house when Liverpool were winning that treble last season watched by my Liverpool-mad little boy). And the expectation was unbearable as I waited to see if Leicester City were ever going to win another game. So I understand why people get swept along with the fortunes of their football team and their desire to see them successful. Local rivalry is also part of the game and there is nothing wrong with that, either. But when rivalry and banter become hatred and bitterness, the line is crossed. It then becomes silly and childish. As the Arsenal manager, Arsene Wenger said at the Campbell news conference, rivalry is fine, but hatred of another team and its supporters has no place in the game.

One of the great fascinations of football for me is that it is a concentrated microcosm of life itself. What happens in life over weeks, months and years can happen within minutes, even seconds, in a football match. The physical, mental, and emotional highs and lows, the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, can come thick and fast in football. Witness Liverpool's 5-4 UEFA Cup Final win, or Manchester United's European Cup Final against Bayern Munich. In daily life, we are divided and ruled by race, religion, political philosophy, income bracket and the sound of our voice. In football, at its "Sol Campbell" extreme, we see the same divisions based on the colour of the scarf and replica shirt.

Most of it is good-natured and that's as it should be - fun, a laugh, an add-on to life and not life itself. I'm a Leicester City fan, so I know how to laugh and take the banter. But clearly from the Campbell reaction and observing people in the crowd over the years, especially during derby matches, the hatred and bile unleashed between some fans is a wonder to behold. Everyone to their own, but for me these people have completely lost the plot. I even saw a Sunderland fan say that what happens to his football club means as much to him as what happens to his children. And this guy still had enough active brain cells to remember to breathe every few seconds! Remarkable in itself.

We have the hostility between many fans of Rangers and Celtic in Scotland, Newcastle and Sunderland, Liverpool and Everton, and others the world over. To generate such a level of hatred and seething anger over a game, an entertainment, is to make a massive statement about their own lives and their sense of perspective. It is also the very emotional reaction that allows wars to be constantly manipulated across the world. There is no basic difference between hating another football team and its supporters and hating another nation, tribe, race or religion, except in the way the battles between them are played out. Football is a fascinating and often riveting entertainment, but it is not important enough to generate hatred. In fact, nothing is, let alone a game.

Another aspect of football-as-life is the do-as-I-say, not do-as-I-do hypocrisy. Those Spurs fans who condemn Campbell for joining Arsenal would have no problem leaving their company for a job at a rival one if they thought it would be good for their career. And while they bleat on about "loyalty", they have no problem verbally abusing players who have been loyal to the club when their powers begin to wane. It's all such bullshit.

Campbell saw out his contract as agreed and was quite entitled to leave and join whoever he liked. He chose Arsenal, not for the money clearly - he could have got more elsewhere - but, in part, to stay close to his mother and family. Oh, what a terrible person he must be.

And why should he have stayed with the annual no-hopers from White Hart Lane when he could play in the Champions League and at least challenge for trophies at Highbury? This is especially true under a new and unscrupulous Spurs regime which does not even have the decency to sack a manager honestly and pay him compensation.

I'll take no lectures in loyalty from ENIC, the manager it now employs or the club it now controls.

In short, those Spurs fans who have reacted so hysterically to the Sol Campbell transfer would do well to grow up, enter adulthood and get a life. I am already anticipating the e-mailed abuse that will now ensue but, thanks to John McEnroe and co, I know what I can do in the face of such hilarious hostility. I shall go away and "re-group".

-- Anonymous, July 11, 2001

Answers

i suppose you couldf regroup at the day centre kev, me, i'm off to find out about football pre 1996 :-)

-- Anonymous, July 11, 2001

however this is the bloke that thinks the royal family are shape-changing lizards...

ml

-- Anonymous, July 11, 2001

Well considered article, the sentiments of which I entirely agree with.

"To generate such a level of hatred and seething anger over a game, an entertainment, is to make a massive statement about their own lives and their sense of perspective...... There is no basic difference between hating another football team and its supporters and hating another nation, tribe, race or religion, except in the way the battles between them are played out. Football is a fascinating and often riveting entertainment, but it is not important enough to generate hatred. In fact, nothing is, let alone a game."

-- Anonymous, July 11, 2001

Hmm - a bit too much to take in at once ;-)

However, the bit that worried me most was there are billions of Galaxies. Crikey - will the world survive?

-- Anonymous, July 11, 2001

could be ML, could be :-)

-- Anonymous, July 11, 2001

.... shape-changing lizards...

You mean they're not ?

-- Anonymous, July 11, 2001

Of course not, they are shape-changing horses from the planet MING.;)

ML3

-- Anonymous, July 11, 2001

ROTFL!! That's very good, ML3!

Interesting article, Swift. It does make you think.

-- Anonymous, July 11, 2001