Football is not just a game

It was supposed to be a big weekend with Arsenal facing Manchester United, but instead of the excitement building up ahead of two injury beleaguered teams meeting in what was billed to be a top-four clash, it turns out that trouble brewing in the lower tiers of English football is much more talked about these days.

Bringing it up to speed, Malky Mackay is no longer unemployed. This is the same Mackay who was sacked by our very own Tan Sri Vincent Tan, owner of Cardiff City Football club for reasons cited as differences in player transfer dealings when they both worked together at the time.

Tan was widely regarded as the villain in the fall out with Mackay and his eventual sacking as manager of the club.

However, reports later emerged that Mackay was involved in a series of racist, homophobic and sexist text messages to his friend Iain Moody, former head of recruitment at Cardiff, in which Tan was called a “chink” (a term as derogatory as calling a black person “nigger”) in reference to his Chinese ethnicity.

Among other things, Mackay and Moody also insulted a Jewish football agent and another female agent in their exchanges.

Naturally, the general perception was that Mackay is finished in the football business. And although Mackay had issued an apology in the aftermath, who in their right mind will want to hire a sexist, homophobic racist as team coach, right?

Or so we thought. Dave Whelan, chairman of Wigan Athletic, had other ideas though and, therefore, he recently appointed Mackay as the new Wigan manager, which caused divided opinions and much furore obviously.

Whelan, in response to the widespread outcry, went a step too far to protect Mackay, claiming that he does not know why it was made such a big deal in the first place. His latest comments have put the club’s reputation in jeopardy and rightly so.

I have nothing against Whelan and I admired his influence which made Wigan FA Cup winners. He is not wrong to want someone of Mackay’s calibre managing his team, but he could have handled his interview much better, knowing full well that Mackay’s actions are not tolerated in this game.

He wanted to defend the man and the decision to appoint him, but ended up defending his actions and in the process made some offensive remarks himself. What he should have just said was that the hiring of Mackay was purely on footballing reasons and while the new manager has the complete support of the club, matters of his punishment are best dealt with by the English FA.

This is not far different from the story of Ched Evans. Evans, a former Sheffield United striker, who was convicted of raping a drunk waitress about two years ago and after serving half of his five-year prison sentence, is now released and eligible to play football again.

That would not have been a problem if every football club ignored him. Except that his ex-employers in League One thought differently and were set to let him train with their facilities before the resignation of influential club patrons, a petition from fans, media backlash, not to mention a request by popular Olympic Gold medallist Jessica Ennis-Hill who wants her name removed from a stand if the convicted rapist is allowed back to play with the club sparked a protest so effective, it made United retract their offer of allowing Evans a route back to train.

Just like the majority of opinion out there, I personally would not like to see Ched Evans be given a new contract by Sheffield United.

That is not because I don’t believe in second chances or I’m picking the side of the girl, it is, in fact, down to the denial and lack of remorse shown by the player in his actions and speech, because instead of understanding the hurt and pain he has brought upon the victim, he is more interested in making sure that his reputation is not tarnished, hence the constant public reminder of his innocence via media avenues.

Evans’ actions are reflective of a person thinking he is above everybody else, something always associated with famous footballers with big heads. As a result, those who stood up to the situation have lost their jobs and Ennis-Hill, an admirable figure for her stance against rape had to suffer online abuse and rape threats on Twitter. 

It is even more disappointing to know that United’s co-chairman is “angry and upset” at not being able to re-sign Evans and allow the former footballer to train, a revelation he made after labelling the criticism of Evans as unfair and “mob-like behaviour”.

What he said sounded as if a whole group of gangsters barged into his office and violently beat him up to get what they wished.

No, there was nothing violent about what the club patrons did when they resigned in protest, neither was Ennis-Hill violent when she wanted nothing to do with a football club supporting a convicted rapist, nor were the fans when they signed that petition.

Rape, however, is an act of violence and if the top hierarchy of Sheffield United cannot differentiate one from the other, it would be a big disservice to the club history and its fans.

Football is a great sport, but unfortunately sometimes it is dominated by too many controversial headlines. Of course, fair to say, every sport has its own trials and challenges to overcome, be it racism, homophobia, corruption, match-fixing, sexism to name a few.

It is not a shame that the problem exists, it only is when people misunderstand the severity of it and brushes it off as nothing.

If it is true, as speculated by some quarters that the FA is likely to let Mackay escape punishment and the Professional Footballers Association (PFA) is supporting Evans in his search for a new club, then sad to say, even in this age, there’s still a long way to go. – November 23, 2014.

* This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insider.