Police hunt Spurs fans who abused Sol Campbell
Photos of wanted supporters published
Gone are the days when a racist and homophobic football fan could hide behind the anonymity of a crowd – Police are actively seeking sixteen Tottenham fans who turned up at Fratton Park in September to watch their side lose 2-0. The supporters have been singled out for singing a chant at Sol Campbell which implied mental illness, and also carried strong tones of racism, anti-semitism and homophobia (we’re not interested in publishing it, but it is here if you simply must read it). The police are trying to make an example of the offenders by publishing snaps of them. The Sun reports:
A disgusted police officer took photos of 16 yobs involved in the chant at Portsmouth.
Now cops have decided to hunt them down.
They face a fine of up to £1,000 if convicted. A court could also impose an order which would ban them from any ground in Britain for up to ten years.
Superintendent Neil Sherrington, of Hampshire Police, said: “We have identified 16 people we would like to speak to. Our inquiry is aimed at putting before the court those individuals who engaged in unacceptable behaviour.
“I would regard this abuse as intolerable in any forum – the excuse that it was at a football match is not a valid one.”
Should supporters be allowed to give players the kind of abuse that would result in arrest outside of a football stadium? Is it fair to single out sixteen supporters when there were probably an awful lot more abusing Campbell? Let us know…
8 responses so far
stevie zipp // December 10, 2008 at 9:30 am
Campbell’s self-adulation, hypocrisy and guarded insulation from the real world make him look pathetic and ridiculous. Self-adulation? ‘I am above criticism’. Hypocrisy? Portsmouth fans at Fratton Part fans were screaming anti-semetic abuse at Spurs players referencing gas chambers that day – any chance of Campbell asking for prosecutions of his own ‘fans’? Insulation? Is this individual, a football player on c.£100k a week who demonstrated by his own behaviour a total lack of respect to those who pay his obscene wages , a reliable and objective witness on the wider ills of society? I think not. The obsession with Campbell is not anything to do with racism (just look at the current Spurs team) or anti-semitsm (Spurs are the self-proclaimed ‘Yids’) – but it is personal. This ‘traitor’ has brought it on himself – and tho’ racist or homophobic abuse is not defensible for Campbell or anyone alse – he deserves the rest of it.
fourstar // December 10, 2008 at 10:02 am
Even if he ‘deserves the rest of it’ (which I doubt) the abuse /was/ racist and homophobic and therefore these yobs should be found and punished. And yes, all abuse, anti-Semitic or otherwise, should be punished similarly.
This name and shame system can only be for the good, no? Or are our sporting arenas nothing short of a modern-day Bedlam* (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bethlem_Royal_Hospital) where we pay our ‘penny’ and get to poke the inmates with sticks?
* interestingly, entry was free on the first Tuesday of the month – that would play havoc with the Champions League income…
John Swaine // December 10, 2008 at 11:18 am
Damn, I guess we Spurs fans should stop being so darn anti-semitic.
Does the person making such a claim even know who Tottenham Hotspur Football Club are!? The Yid Army? The Mighty Yids? Proud Yiddos? Ring any bells?
I don’t like the homophobia or racism in that football chant but implying that it’s somehow Anti-Semitic because Sol Campbell is called a Judas? I think the implication that “Judas” is an anti-semitic insult is actually insulting to Jews.
I’ve heard “Spurs are on their way to Auschwitz” chanted many times and had opposing fans hissing to recreate the sound of Gas Chambers. THAT’S anti-semitism.
Upminster Iron // December 10, 2008 at 11:34 am
Spurs fans always complain about being on the receiving end of anti-semetic abuse but they have received the joint most arrests for racist abuse in the Premier League over the last year and that was (probably) without including this incident. You can’t preach about how wrong it all is (as most level-headed people are well aware) when your fans are just as guilty as anyone.
skanksta // December 10, 2008 at 5:02 pm
The reason Campbell earns £100k a week is because fans have the passion to bother to spend £1-200 on tickets, travel etc. to away games. He could’ve gone to Inter or Barca, but had too little imagination to leave his house. He let his contract run-down so he could go to Arsenal ON A FREE and help them with one of their greatest eras of success. All the time, Spurs fans were taunted by the bitter rivals about “We got Campbell from the lane” etc. It was the one thing fans couldn’t forgive and for me it’s FAR worse than singing a little song ! I doubt those fans are even racist, homophobes or whatever – they just want to hurt Campbell as much as he hurt them. If fans didn’t act like this football would be like ballet, stadia would be empty and Campbell wouldn’t be a feted millionaire.
Anyone reporting these guys is helping to put another nail in football’s coffin.
Tom Casey // December 10, 2008 at 9:48 pm
I totally agree with the bloke above. I was at the game that day and there was absolutely no racist abuse that day. If anyone can find a racist chant we sang i’d love to hear it. Why would we be racist when we have many black players? Doesn’t make sense if you ask me. Yes, we gave campbell ALOT of abuse, but in my eyes and im sure every other spurs fan will agree, campbell deserves everything he gets. He committed the biggest sin and caused alot of pain when he left for the arsenal. I’m also fed up with the years of abuse we’ve had from west ham etc for the constant ‘Jew’ remarks. Why has nothing ever been done about that? I also believe that blowing this campbell matter out of preportion will make things worse for campbell, no matter what the police do. They have singled out 16 people and they think thats going to help. Of course its not, think how many spurs fans there are and they will all hate campbell. Campbells abuse will never end.
fourstar // December 10, 2008 at 10:10 pm
“Campbells abuse will never end.”
Ah, the sweet smell of rational debate.
Chubworth // December 16, 2008 at 7:34 pm
I am a Pompey fan, I was there, I heard no racial abuse of Sol C but I didn’t hear any anti-semitic gas chamber stuff either (I’m a history teacher and I get eally angry about this sort of thing). The anti-Sol chanting sounded more spiteful than I’ve ever heard but I have a lot of issues with people feeling personally and collectively sinned against by people who basically change jobs (Campbell, Redknapp etc) we’d all do the same for £100k. If you want to hate people, try the bastards who screwed up our economy and are going to put loads of football fans out of jobs and their homes, don’t start whining cos your pride’s been hurt. The truth is your club, my club, means way less to the guys in the shirts than the guys in the stands. It’s a meal ticket. End of.
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