Topic: A handshake is more important than a cause

[SMD]

I don't need to describe what happened. Frankly, I don't want to. I don't care. Really, I don't. I have better things to do with my life. I have assignments and studying to do, I probably need to go do some shopping later, maybe catch up with my family and see how they're getting on. My little sister's growing up, bless her. Doing her GCSEs.
In the world of football, there are more pressing matters. Does Stewart Downing have the mental fortitude to be a Liverpool player? Do we face another summer of transition and rebuilding? What will happen with the new stadium?
Even more important, what's happening with the coalition? Will they force through the NHS reform bill that everyone is opposed to? How will the chancellor propose to combat shrinking growth and unemployment? Is the country going to prosper in the next few decades and will we have the infrastructure to allow for that growth, if we're not investing now?

If you look at the news, you'd think that Luis Suarez killed Whitney Houston. Throughout history, there have been handshakes that resonated around the world. Genuinely important moments like the Middle Eastern peace process, when a handshake means a lot more than just two people agreeing or greeting each other. I'm sure you could spend an afternoon listing sporting handshakes that genuinely had a lasting impact but you would be hard pushed to justify the furore over yesterday's non-event.
Everyone remembers the fiasco between John Terry and Wayne Bridge but no one cares about it any more. No one brings it up and it would've probably be consigned to a Rory McGrath bloopers DVD available at every store of Poundland if it wasn't for yesterday.

The media, the fans and to a small extent the club are completely missing the point when trying to dissect who's at fault for the situation. It really doesn't matter, it's a fucking handshake designed to allow the Premier League to stamp more copyrighted material over their 'product'. That's what the anthem and the sign is for. So I don't care.

What I do care about is how racism has completely devolved into a political issue rather than a social cause. The head of FARE, Piara Powar, abuses a Liverpool fan on Twitter due to his ethnicity. Let me repeat: The head of an organisation tasked with fighting racism in football abuses a fan for his opinion, referring to his ethnicity. By Evra's own admission, he refers to Suarez' origin. Seemingly neither are in the wrong. Alex Ferguson and Gordon Taylor repeatedly refer to racism as being against 'black players'. Is that what it comes to? Is it only racist if you're abusing someone who is black?
The complete failure to address the cause looks to have roused a wave of people too stupid to be trusted to tie their own shoelaces in using racist language as a sort of anti-establishment movement, just like the copycat riots of last year. That too was a result of an inability of authorities to respond to an initial situation that - rightly or wrongly - had erupted and needed to be nipped in the bud. Instead, they stuck their heads in the sand until it was too late and all they could seemingly do was wait for the fire to burn itself out - sometimes literally.

John Barnes put it best when he said that 'we are not the custodians of moral values in the world'. Why are two football clubs expected to enact social change? Where are the equality organisations? Where is the FA? Where is the culture secretary, aside from casting ill advised opinions on Suarez despite the company he keeps? It doesn't have to be a tribal cause whatsoever. In fact, the FA should've been proactive and say 'look, no club is being singled out here, we just want to remind players, staff and fans about what is legal and what is acceptable in this country'. There was a real chance for organisations that do not get much attention to step forward and say 'we have contacted the clubs of the Premier League and will be running these programmes to promote racial equality in sport and in society'. The government, much maligned and derided, could've used it as an opportunity to really nullify anti-immigrant feeling by reminding the country how the sport - and nation - benefits from having a multi-cultural flavour.

Instead it's been an exercise in queuing up to take a pop at Suarez, the club and bask in the 'superiority' of English football. Instead, we've got fans and members of the press using it as a point scoring exercise, even dredging up Heysel once again, in an attempt to glean moral superiority. And instead we've got Alex Ferguson telling us what to do.

Fuck off. Seriously, just fuck off. For all the flack the club, the player and Kenny have gotten, not a single institution has offered us any sort of assistance or a path of reconciliation. Instead, Ferguson said 'there's no need to do anything' before hastily changing his mind before an unexpected return to Anfield. The FA and other organisations seem to feel that the fight against racism is as complex as saying BAD DOG, BAD DOG. The press lecture is repeatedly lacking in awareness of the xenophobia attached to their posturing. We're simply told to bend over and take it until they're done and toss us off the bed to clean up. We're told to stop whinging, that we're always the victim and it's never our fault.

Here's some news for you. We're perfectly capable of being critical of our club. If you are appealing to right minded Liverpool fans, then you will already know that we're acutely aware of the problems surrounding the club. If you are preaching to the moronic element, what do you expect? They're morons. Just because we defend the club doesn't mean we agree with everything the club does. We defend the club because you're wrong and we don't like you.

Where were you after Hillsborough? Where have you been in the last 20 years when the families were repeatedly told that nothing could be done, and every single inch of progress has been fought by a collection of brave, determined and honest folk?
Where were you in 2005 when the FA decided the Champions of Europe didn't deserve to qualify for the competition they'd won, that fourth place was somehow a greater prize despite them supporting the opposite outcome the year before in the event Chelsea or Arsenal (how's that going, London press?) won it without finishing in the top 4?
Where were you when Hicks and Gillett bought the club and proceeded to siphon as much money as they could, trying to drain the life out of it?
Where were you when the club hoarded Champions League final tickets, depriving loyal fans the chance to see their club challenge for the highest honour in football?
Where were you when they began to stick the knife into a manager who, whether you like it or not, had the interests of the fans at heart?
Where were you when that manager had to put out fires all over L4 started by two men who are so disliked in their own country they can't even go to baseball games at their own ground.
Where were you when the manager you had campaigned to take over from Rafa Benitez was sending the club into the Championship?
Where were you when football clubs rammed the price of going to the match up, pricing out a large proportion of families who had a long history of following their club?
Where were you when football fans are still treated like criminals by police?

We really don't like you, in fact we fucking hate you. You claimed we didn't want to hear a bad word against our club, that you're bringing the truth. Why is it then that so many fans have taken to independent bloggers and writers affording genuine tactical insight and balanced critique of football matches? Why have so many people armed with small budgets and a bit of motivation forged careers for themselves on the internet?

Kenny Dalglish was told by a Sky Sports interviewer that he should indulge his questioning because 'that's what the fans want'. His response pretty much summed it up.

"I think we know what the fans want more than you do"

Whatever Kenny Dalglish might do in his life, whatever mistakes he might make, I would guarantee he gives more of a shit about Liverpool FC and its fans than the media.

[Theoldkopite]

 

[Danyaals Kop]

Brilliant, Saif.

[Mal]

Here endeth the lesson. Amen.

I really hope someone in the mainstream press has the balls to run with something like this. They won't though, the servile twats.

[RedRush]

Brilliant post!

[Ferg]

Spot fucking on. Amazing post.

[duke8]

SUPERB.
well said..... Please post this to the media dicks and the FA for their attention.

[Pyro36]

Brilliant! 

[5yearplan]

Amen Sir

The hyperbole from the press, Sky tv and the so called anti racist organisations has done absolutely nothing to further the cause of equality in this country, in fact their ridiculous drum beating has made me ashamed of the country I live in.

A group of people who claim to speak for us all who in reality are only interested in their own self aggrandizement, scrambling for high moral ground that they have no right to occupy.

Sick of every last one of them whether it be on the football field or in the political Arena, and sick to death of a populace who swallows every piece of bile they are fed and then asks for more.
Used to love this game, a simple pursuit that has been turned into some gigantic soap opera by people who regard us as peasants and think we are stupid enough top believe anything they tell us, maybe they're right. 

[Big Red Richie]

Superb. 

[Tony19:6]

Amen

[vintage74]

Best I've read on here in a long time.  Simply thank you.

[Millie]

Well said

[santhosh]

Superb read..

[zERo]

well said. great post

[deadlybuzz]

Brilliant stuff.

[rafa4eva]

I salute you, a well written post.

[mercurial]

Bloody fucking good post. Sums up the attitude of what we stand for.

[love:the:game]

What annoys me about the handshakes issue is all the bollocks about how it sets an example for the kids...but surely setting no example at all is better than setting a false example. There are people in the world you don't like, you won't get on with everyone, you don't have to shake hands and cuddle and love every person you have an encounter with - this is a reality that later on in life they'll come to realise themselves so what's the point of shielding them from it now?

Everything has to be black and white, if they've shook hands it means there's no problem. And we don't like problems and headaches and bad press do we, no one wants that uncomfortable feeling - it's much better if everything was neatly put to a bed of roses. We want to applaud in unison and shout 'marvelous' as it's a lot better for everyone that way. Utterly delusional.

Most people in the game acknowledge that it's a pointless and insincere ritual, and if someone's gonna hack you down as soon as the whistle goes I'm sure you'd rather they hadn't shaken your hand first.

Also with increasing rivalries it turns football into an episode of East Enders and gives sensationalist writers ammunition to target a wider audience. My own girlfriend who doesn't watch football was glued to the screen over the whole Terry/Bridge handshake, then again yesterday. 40 odd Facebook statuses on my News Feed - spent most of my Saturday night out arguing with people on Facebook who normally don't have a single thing to say about football. I think it was Jamie Redknapp who said yesterday on Sky that there'll be people tuning in just to watch the handshake and then change the channel.

Scrap the whole thing in my opinion - there'll be more football to concentrate on and less shite that belongs in the pages of OK! and Hello. If players want to shake hands or exchange shirts at the end of the match that's their individual decision(s).

[BCCC]

Amongst all the dross the thing that keeps me coming back here is that every now and then someone will come up with a quality, well thought out, well written and insightful post and this is right up there with the best.

Superb AWT.

[YorkieRed9]

 

[rastaferio]

Yesterday, the first thing I heard from a friend who is a United supporter - "Suarez is an ass hole for not shaking Evra's hand." It's egregious how much emphasis has been placed on this so-called 'gesture.'

[mattpimlott]

Great post mate

[inexorably red]

nice one !!! doesnt seem enough for such a great written piece !!!

[Rococo]

that really is a rather good post. Well done, sir

[andyrol]

right stop it all now. this is the best piece of writing ive read in a long time. put that on the home page and lets leave it at that. it says everything we could ever say. simply a brilliant heartfelt post.

[skerriesred]

Congrats.

Great Post.

[freedom]

 

[TheDan1892]

Top stuff that...

[Snail]

Fucking well in Saif mate.

[Pistolero]

I just wish the national press could still produce stuff of the quality that blogs and fansites such as this produce on a very frequent basis.....the OP is a perfect example

Little wonder that these days journo's are - in an effort to appear relevant - desperately trying to reinvent themselves as Twitter gossip-mongers and agent-provocateurs....but the cat is most definitely out of the bag....the fans know more than they do - and more pertinently, can express it better than they do.

Top post mate.

[smig]

Great this.

[iAnfieldRoad]

quality post 

[Vulmea]

enjoyed that - actually read it twice and it got even better

[gazzathered]

Well said, good post.

[Sudden Death Draft Loser]

This may be posted elsewhere (too many handshake related topics to search through), anyway it's worth it to bump a superb OP

Fake Plastic Respect
February 12, 2012 by Jim Boardman | 0 comments
THE DAY Luis Suárez was charged by the FA for the incident with Patrice Evra the media had fallen over each other in a race to condemn Sepp Blatter for a comment he made about handshakes. What he’d said seemed to be along the lines of endorsing racism on a football pitch during a game – as long as the players involved shake hands afterwards.
It was a stupid thing to say and one that he’ll never live down, but if football was the kind of game the authorities want it to be – and that includes the English FA – the comment wouldn’t be completely without merit. But football isn’t a nice pleasant game played by people full of ‘respect’ for each other. It’s a regularly depressing game watched, played, run and reported on by far too large a proportion of selfish individuals. Respect in football is as fake as the outrage from the hacks who change their principles every time there’s a new line to go for to earn their crust.

Liverpool fans find it difficult to look at Alex Ferguson and see any good in him. Maybe there is some good in him – after all most Liverpool fans would have thought the same of Gary Neville but many now find themselves agreeing with a painfully high amount of his punditry – but it’s hard to see it.
It’s hard to imagine Manchester United fans would think any differently about Kenny Dalglish, certainly if the Man U opinion formers are anything to go by.
This applied long before Suárez and Evra had their disputed conversation and it will probably go on long after both players have hung up their boots or taken them elsewhere.
With that in mind it goes without saying that the two managers will think much the same of each other. Ferguson’s hatred of Dalglish goes back a long way and whilst many of Kenny detractors were laughing at his return in place of their beloved Roy Hodgson it’s unlikely there was much laughter from the more elderly Glaswegian.
Whatever really went on between Evra and Suárez, there still isn’t enough evidence to be completely certain. That’s something that’s been discussed at length by numerous people – and of course ignored by those who don’t like to sully their agenda with truth or questions about what the truth might be.
Sadly for football, and the fight against racism, the case has done nothing to make it easier to work out the truth of any future incident along those lines that takes place.
The FA’s independent panel seem to think there’s a good chance of it happening again – this is an extract from their lengthy report on the Suárez-Evra incident:
“We took into account the fact that it is a real albeit unattractive trait of human nature that we all act from time to time, to greater or lesser degrees, in ways which may be out of character. This is especially so when we feel under pressure, or challenged, or provoked, or pushed into a corner. We do and say things that we are not proud of and regret, and that we might try and deny, sometimes even to ourselves. We occasionally things that we would be embarrassed to admit to family or friends. It is not inconsistent to have black colleagues and friends and relatives, and yet say things to strangers or acquaintances about race or colour that we would not say directly to those closer to us.”
Quite an admission from the panel (imagine if Blatter had said that stuff in the last sentence) but the general point is fairly obvious. People do things they shouldn’t do, and wouldn’t normally do, in the heat of the moment if feeling under pressure.
And this is where the handshake comes in, or where it would come in if football was the kind of game the authorities like to pretend it is. If two players, on opposing sides, are angry with each other for some reason, the two managers, from the two opposing sides, should be able to sort it out. That ‘sorting out’ might still lead to action from The FA, it might lead to one or both clubs disciplining their own players, but if football’s the kind of respect-filled game the authorities want us to believe it is then that handshake idea works perfectly every time.
Even if the managers are at loggerheads there’s still – in this idyllic version of the game – plenty of respect between the officials higher up at both clubs. A director of football at one club can chat to a director at the other club. They get the handshakes started, the dialogue underway, the problems ironed out at least to a point where punishment is for something that happened, not an extreme playground argument version of what happened.
Football isn’t that kind of idyllic game though, not in its current guise, certainly not in England under the ‘control’ of The FA with a greedy Premier League atop the league structure, fair to itself but dismissive of the league that feeds into it.
The Premier League isn’t even fair to the punter. The price of tickets is astronomical, as is the cost of the tacky shirts the clubs throw out three versions of each season. The FA doesn’t care, it has its own tacky shirts to sell and as long as it gets the use of those players whose wages make those tickets so expensive why would they care? There’s always the option of watching on the TV – but even that’s out of reach of more and more people as the sport leaves its past behind and heads for a place that the people who made the game what it is would never recognise.
Handshakes used to be something that happened before cup finals and internationals. The players would line up, some dignitary would shake their hands, then the tracky tops would be ditched and some football would be played. Nowadays it costs so much to go to a bog-standard league game that maybe the powers-that-be feel they need to try and pretend it’s as good as a cup final. Handshakes you can hardly see anyway when you’re at the game, crap anthems you don’t want to listen to, football so poor that the talking points aren’t even football any more. And you pay a fortune to watch that.
A fortune to watch fake football.
And when the football is as fake as this you might as well just offer a fake handshake. If you don’t you’ll only get fake outrage.
Fake outrage like that from Patrick Barclay. Supposedly a respected writer, days after using Heysel as a stick to beat some prat on Twitter with, insulting and offending countless others in the process, he uses the word “immoral” to describe Kenny Dalglish’s answers to questions about a player not offering a fake handshake. A fake handshake Dalglish said he thought had been offered.
In what kind of world is someone like Patrick Barclay, with his thinly disguised views of Heysel and Hillsborough itching to come out with every spiteful word he says, tweets or writes, respected? And it’s not just Barclay, a man trying to make some money in the last days of his career. It’s a wide range of so-called respected writers who are stirring up trouble so fast that they can’t see their own hypocrisy through the dust they’ve sent flying. Respected writers patting each other on the back, a big circle of hypocrites who can’t praise each other enough for the fakery they’ve worked so hard to make fact. Respected writers?
It’s that word again. Respect. In football it has a completely different meaning to anywhere else.
Respect in football is fake.
Rafa Benítez put it best.
Football is a lie.

[Keith Lard]

Good read that. Ace post.

[Runehammer]

Thanks AWT for cheering me up at the arse end of this damn weekend. Brilliant post.

[Rafa_La]

Brilliant.

Went to add the OP to the special thread & found it already there

http://www.redandwhitekop.com/forum/index.php?topic=236032.0

 

[Crimson_Tank]

Well put.