Kangaroo Keyboards
One of the annoying things of social media is the impulse of people to spout out their kangaroo court verdicts on a matter without giving it due consideration, showing empathy or considering the context. Also, there is never ever any consequence to their comments.
So, when a Villa supporter is captured in the act of giving Aston Villa players a piece of his mind with a tirade of expletives, suddenly you have Tweets labelling him a hooligan, a thug, a disgrace to Villa fans and people wanting him banned. Picking up on the theme, the newspaper media and football websites starts to also froth at the mouth with click-bait articles, with titles like ‘A Shameful Day for Aston Villa’.
Get a grip. This was a video of supporters swearing at under-performing players. That’s it.
SMALL TIME CONTEXT
Yes, the main protagonist shouldn’t have sworn in such a manner, mainly because there were minors present, but he’s feeling powerless to what has happened to his team this season. Lets have some context here…
In other countries that bus could have had its windows put through or worse. Just ask Roma players when their fans attacked the team bus with rocks, eggs and bricks, smashing windows, after losing a cup final against their rivals Lazio. That wasn’t a one-off either, last month the Roma player’s coach was attacked by eggs after they got knocked out of the cup by Spezia.
In Greece, in 2011, Larissa’s team bus was attacked by a few hundred of its own fans after the team had been beaten 3-0, it’s windows were smashed up with rocks, eggs and yogurt (well, it is Greece!).
Let’s not even go into detail about what has previously happened in Turkey, where yogurt is replaced with guns.
These things happen because fans are fanatical and bleed the club colours and if they get a sniff that the players don’t, then expect trouble. The fan in the video has spent around £3000 this season following his club home and away (see below).
Is this supporter (one of several) that hurled abuse at the players boarding the bus, a ‘hooligan’? Well, compare the incident to what went down in Anderlecht in 1982 and get back to me.
MITIGATING EVIDENCE
As any regular MOMS reader will know, we’re not one for knee-jerk reaction to Villa matters, especially when Villa supporters are concerned. There has been several bits of evidence sent to MOMS since the game:
Richardson Incident
The first one from a young fan a witnessed an incident that doesn’t exactly paint Villa players’ attitude in a glowing light…
‘Yesterday at the match, as I was in the home stand with my Wycombe-supporting friend, one of their fans was shouting the usual abuse at Villa players. As Richardson went past, he called him lazy and said Villa were going down or something like that, and yelled “Why don’t you just go home mate?” Richardson turned to the stand, rubbed his thumb and finger in a ‘I’m-making-lots-of-money’ gesture, then jogged on laughing. I think that says a lot about where we are…’
Throw in Bacuna’s ill-advised instagram photo and also reports of Lescott and Guzan telling fans to f**k off and you can understand why the blood might boil.
Second Video
There was a video sent in from a young fan that showed the incident from the other side of the bus, where you see some players stopping to sign autographs and fans saying ‘unlucky’ to them and Rémi Garde. Also, it had my favourite comment directed at a Villa player this weekend – “Try a little bit harder next time mate”.
It’s at odds with what the media have made out that all Villa supporters were abusing players by putting random photos of fans next to salacious headlines.
Vouching For Your Mate
The most interesting message MOMS received was from a friend of the main fan dishing out the verbals in the main video.
Nowadays we sometimes choke on political correctness due to social media and take the bait of media sensationalism. So this guy in the video was just a mindless animal, was he? In two dimensions maybe, but lets paint him in three dimensions, as his friend reached out to MOMS to do…
Message from Fan in video’s mate
The bald guy at the doors of the coach was one of my best mates who I was at the game with.
What that video doesn’t show is him having a conversation and laughing with the female Police officer the whole time we was waiting for the players, or him getting the small girl onto the coach to get her shirt signed by Kozak as he boarded the coach way before everyone else or him congratulating the Wycombe players as they left the stadium.
Yet he is getting branded a hooligan and thug, when he’s actually far from it. Yes he may have gone over the top, but like the rest of us, he is highly passionate about the club and has finally snapped after spending around £3000 following the Villa up and down the country so far this season.
He, along with the rest of my mates who go the game’s have given those players everything we have got in terms of supporting them and will continue to, but after the last three performances, added to our league position, it’s extremely hard to applaud them off the pitch.
Rest assured for the final 18 games of this season, plus the cup game(s), we will be at every game giving the players all the vocal support humanely possible for 90 mins as we always have done. We are all Villa fans together so let’s show unity and stop arguing and fighting with each other because we don’t agree with something.
KEEP THE LION FLAG FLYING HIGH!
Who’s to Blame
Does his mate sound like a mindless thug? I don’t think so. Have I ever been to a football match where I haven’t heard someone swear? Nope. Most football fans after all, don’t sit around drinking fine tea from china cups and listening to opera, before a game.
The irony is the fan in question, seems to show more dedication and spends more money than all the moral crusaders who flippantly judge him from behind their keyboards.
There certainly seems to be more tolerance for swearing in the real world then on the internet nowadays. Put it that way.
Yes, as previously stated, the guy shouldn’t be swearing, especially in front of kids, but the players shouldn’t be swearing at supporters either. The supporter’s anger at the moment is hardly surprising considering the way Villa supporters have been made mugs of by their club and their players.
The way to improve supporter behaviour is simple – Randy Lerner, Tom Fox and co, need to sort their act out.
In the meantime, stay classy Villa fans.
UTV
“Last Weeks confrontation with their own Supporters could be a Blessing in Disguise for Aston Villa.”
Quote from reader’s letters in Leicester report in Daily Mail Online
At least tws can see the obvious. o of u
Calm down chaps it’s only a game.
No I don’t advocate doing nothing. If you knew the history of fan activity at Villa you would know that I was a member of the shareolder’s association and supported Buck Chinn, then was an officer of AVISA – the Independent Supporters Association under two chairs, and we then merged with the Aston Villa Supporters Trust, I remain an associate member of the Trust and I there is to be a meaningful discussion of the future at the Trust AGM I will renew my full membership and attend.
Its only through democratic collective action that the situation will improve. AVST has the best chance of doing this, but if they don’t manage to get meaningful changes then other channels need to be explored.
If you read Heroes and Villains magazine you will see my analysis and call for an independent inquiry into why the club is in crisis. There is something wrong with a club which staggers from crisis to crisis year after year, and supporters should be collectively probing what is wrong at the top.
Trevor Fisher
http://www.birminghammail.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/nostalgia-picture-special-aston-villa-8080752
This was very democratic and collective!
Glad to see we are on to history. There is a sketch of Villa history in my BOOK VLLA FOR ENGLAND which is still on sale in the Villa shops
its true fans rioted – they always have done – but the result was a Sherwood style panic. Docherty came in , spent loads of money and a year later was sacked as we went down for two years to Division 3. It was Vic Crowe, a quiet man like Garde, who got us back on track.
Fans always riot. According to my Dad (he was the second Villa Fan in my family) my grandfather claimed to have been one of the rioters who smashed up the pub of the villa goalie after the 1892 cup final. Fans reckoned he threw the game. But it was the Barwick Street meeting the following year that laid the basis for the golden age and the move to Villa Park.
Riot and those in charge panic. Have a meeting and they have to think about your arguments. If you have good arguments of course.
My grandfather was the first Villa Fan in the family. Which means that next year I can claim 125 years of the male members of my family suffering following the Villa.
Is this a record?
Trevor Fisher.
its a pity that rainbow six can’t use his real name, I would invite him out for a drink to discuss mother love. I accepted much that my mother said, but argued with her till the day she died. She was a working class Tory, I ended up and am in a different party. But when she spoke sense I listened to her.
Growing up in the Hockley slums in the 1950s, the danger of verbal abuse was very obvious as I saw people being knifed and bottled. Not good to see blood spurting, so please don’t glorify violence. Controlled aggression…. how stupid.
No soldier was ever allowed to go off on their own and fight their own battles. And as for having to fight for your club, Rainbow Six, spell that out please. Are you suggesting we go back to street hooliganism?
The performance of the players is not helped by abuse, so get that clear. The atmosphere at the club has been poor for many matches, so no booing or abuse inside or outside the stadium.
And as for the bigger picture…. Rainbow, you may have noticed Garde has admitted some of the players he has tried to sign have decided not to come.
Now can you link this to the tension and recent abuse or not? Because it is a simple fact of life, players don’t want to come to a club where the fans are abusive and their families are put on the line, as Bacuna’s was allegedly.
Simply walk away. My old mum got much wrong, including working to get Neville Chamberlain elected in the 1930s – as a tory, she wanted the old swine to be Prime Minister and do a deal with Hitler. But in principle, she was right. Violence is not good, and has no place in football. Verbal violence is just as bad, as many a convicted murderer has tried to say it was just an argument that got out of hand.
Villa is the only British professional club that has ever had a player on their books murdered. Shot dead after an argument over a dog…. its not funny.
Walk away from it. Mum was right, and taught me to think before I spoke. Correctly
Trevor FIsher
Firstly Trev, MOMS, WordPress, GCHQ, CIA, FSB and Big Brother all know who and where I am. So it’s on a need to know basis and so nobody else needs it.
So you only listened to some of her advice? She taught you to think before you spoke, so she’s not around now to reiterate the message?
So you are saying this fan’s actions are akin to bottling and stabbing? And you mock the words “controlled aggression.” Wasn’t there police officers standing next to him? Why didn’t they arrest him? He didn’t lose his temper and was allegedly laughing and joking with them.
So where did that performance come from?
So whose fault is it that Villa are in this position that they cannot attract new players? Not the fans.
You advocate doing nothing and walking away. The apathy is unbelievable amongst fans. Now they’ll all start thinking there’s a chance. Maybe there is. But the people who are responsible for the mess we are in will still bet there. Five years of battling relegation. The problem is Lerner until you get rid of him nothing will change.
I’m actually advocating going back to the 1950’s and starting again,
So Remi Garde’s impassioned 10th pre-match speech, inspired these no hopers and under achievers, to pull a win out of no where against the team with the third best away record! Maybe! But where did he get his inspiration from? Pretty obvious. Those players were shocked at the vitriol that was coming their way. And they responded like men in a positive way.
Unfortunately nothing is being done on a far greater scale aimed at removing the management, board and Lerner and making him sell cheap.
So to all you sanctimonious, political correct pontificators above, I dare say you wont be apologising for your condescending and ill-informed comments but I’d expect no less.
It seems a lot of people dont understand what passion following a football CLUB means what happened at the weekend is nothing as to what will happen before this season finishes you will see villa fighting villa ,you have a whole generation of supporters who have never been relegated we old codgers have its not nice ,I applaud the passion shown at the weekend right or wrong in people eyes its happened move on .Tomorrow will be when the small rumdles start to turn into a unstoppable and ugly atmosphere the gutless rubbish who wear our shirt deserve all they get ,stay loyal to yourself and keep the faith.
Look at the fan videos of lerners American interests he did the same there with the same feelings and outcome the common denominater is lerner this club will be lost unless we can drive him out. Direct your anger towards him and his cronies
We need a revolution at the villa right now, and revolutions aren’t pretty. Personally I think a boycott of the replay would be better than abusing the players, but anyone whose still following the villa home and away deserves our respect, even if they lose their rag on camera.
Spot on mate! We not only need one at the Villa, but elsewhere as well. The 1967 revolution got the job done!
100% behind them in their abuse. No we must all stick together and support the team. Ha ha ha and where has that got us? Five years of total garbage. If we don’t all stick together we might not get 8 points in the second half of the season. Where would that get us? Erm Relegated. The only way forward is this to escalate and force Lerner to sell cheap. You sanctimonious, pontificating, apathetic passionless keyboard warriors will get what you deserve, Div 2 football seeing Wycombe twice a year on a regular basis.
I think that whatever the context to condone that type of behaviour is really disappointing from a forum claiming to represent the fans. By all means express your anger but you need to take responsibility for the fact that you have kimes around, for the fact that in several cases these are young players thrown into a club in disarray. Simply yelling the worst obscenities you can think of….well done. for me this is a new low of supporting villa. Totally embarrassing.
Kids around ( typo )
Yes Harvey, the kids of today have never heard swearing before. This passion was like it was in the 1960’s hardly anybody swore outside of a football ground and you’d never hear it on the TV. Now every other word is the f word to a lot of people. But they would never do it in front of the kids would they.
What a joke this is, it doesn’t matter how bad the team is performing. Nobody has the right to talk to people like that.
He’s a dick and a mindless idiot, just because his friend says he isn’t doesn’t make it so. Some of my friends are dicks but I would defend them because they are my mates.
The idiot should be banned.
Villa is shit at the moment, we all know that but most decent folk know the boundaries.
Well banning him will solve all his problems as he will be forced not to watch this garbage in Div 2. You keep supporting the players and see where that gets you. You spineless political correct product of the modern era. Apathetic and passionless. Enjoy div 2!
Let’s not forget in the second video Bacuna and Richardson laughing at the fans. These players are meant to be professionals but act like spoilt children. There are many jobs out there that receive daily abuse nurses and teachers as two examples but they act like professionals and get on with the job not give abuse back. I keep hearing it’s not there fault but These players knew how big the villa is when they signed so that can not be used as an excuse.
As Rodney said “was that supossed to change my mind?” I don’t care how passionate he is for the Villa, I don’t care if he’s Mother Teresa’s love child! His behaviour was unacceptable and worse it was counter productive! Do you that sort of behaviour is going to encourage them to play any better? Is it going to take the pressure off them & encourage them to be more confident? NO! Even worse if you were a player & were considering signing for the club & you saw that, what would you do?
Nez is absolutely right, you don,t teach a dog new tricks by beating him.
Yes supporting them and sticking behind the players that’ll do what? Might get 10 points in the second half of the season. I bet you there is a reaction to that abuse in the replay. You apathetic passionless supporters have got what you deserve and you’ll get your true just desserts watching Div 2
Lot of sense spoken here, I think that the players and indeed all at the club are acutely aware of the feelings of the fans, but don’t be surprised at the alleged attitude of Richardson. You must remember that all these people are merely employees and assets. Even the owner has no emotional attachment to the club and he wants rid of it asp but is holding out for the best deal. Ironically the longer he retains ownership the less it’s worth. The club will go on and the fans will remain and our emotions will be tested again and again. We should all try and develop a realistic view of where we are and what is achievable whilst keeping an unrealistic hope that we will survive.
Language was out of order,but I can understand how the guy feels,frustrated,annoyed, these are properly what we are all feeling at this moment,we got to let players and current board know how we feel,but that abusiveness was uncalled for,better ways to express our feelings,
Was that supposed to change my mind? What this moron did was way more embarrassing to our club than a 1-1 draw with Wycombe. The guy is a disgrace to himself his family and the club.
Well Rodney I know who I’d want standing next to me when the going got tough and it wouldn’t be you. I bet all his family and mates are patting him on the back saying it needed saying and I wish I’d done that. He’s a disgrace? What are the players, management, board and owner? They come and go. The club and the fans are what its about. Football was about tribal loyalties and passion. Now it the time of the glory hunters and the prawn sandwich brigade.
Football has been taken away from its roots by big money. Taking it away from the working class who can’t afford to watch it any more. Only atmosphere now is generally in the away support, where you are vastly outnumbered and surrounded because it replicates what it used to be like.
Cometh the hour, cometh the man. And I’ll make a wager this was a pivotal moment. It had to be done and on a far greater scale.
One of the other lessons of social media and mobile phones with cameras is that once you lose your temper, the world knows it. They can and will put their image on you, as the mail did yesterday.
Just walk away. My mother told me – lose your temper and lose the argument. When the red mist rises, walk away.
If not then whatever happens you are guilty. End of story. As the bible says, the tongue is the unruly member. Silence is golden. All the old clichés. They can’t do you for what you are thinking. Open your mouth and you are lost. They are clichés because they are true.
There’s plenty of people in prison or lost their jobs because they lost it for a split second. There is no excuse. Walk away and count to ten.
Trevor Fisher
Wise words Trevor.
Wise words? I beg to differ. Just imagine if all men followed their mum’s advice and walked away where would be today? The current world population would be dwarfed. Just imagine living in such a matriarchal society. Got news for you younger guys you might just find out.
Unfortunately Trev, males and females are wired up differently and a male has ten times the amount of testosterone. This hormone is responsible for how aggressive and sexual you are. According to the military there are three types of men. Warriors who can kill without remorse, pacifists who could never kill and the rest who can be trained to kill. I’ve a good idea what group this guy came from.
So Trev you think he lost the plot? Clearly you have no idea. That was controlled aggression. He knew what he was doing and the term is malice aforethought which means it was premeditated. So your analogy is way out.
Somebody above mentioned about old codgers, well we literally had to fight for our club, because in those days that was what had to be done. But now you have the political correct and latter day keyboard warriors looking at them down their noses. It has always been the thin red line that prevailed not our inept leaders, with only a few exceptions, that carried the day. And these men make up the bulk of the armed forces and so called football hooligans.
Just imagine my reaction if My old mum said be a city fan, and what would I have said? Would Trev have done as his mum said, then?
Been trying for days to do this, let’s hope third day lucky.