By Henry Deedes
Without even a hint of irony etched accross his face, Emmanuel Adebayor was snapped puckering up to the Arsenal badge at the Emirates on Sunday.
This, of course, is a player whose "loyalty" to his club surmounts to spending much of the summer courting a bid from AC Milan, a flirtation so blatant it would have made even the most forthright Premier League groupy blush.
Of course, Adebayor is not alone in this tedious practice - it's commonplace across most Premier League football parks. But don't the players realise how much this insults the fans' intelligence?
Several years ago, a rule was adopted where any player who removed his shirt in celebration was given a yellow card, a mean-spirited move carried out presumably in the thought that some audiences might find naked torsos offensive.
I say bring back the shirt swingers. If the officials really want to cut down on offensive celebrations, they should turn their attention to the badge kissers - and make that one a straight red.
(Picture: Getty Images)
I agree 100%. Badge kissing is offensive at the best of times, but Adebayor kissing the Arsenal badge after spending the whole summer trying to engineer a big money move is vomit-inducing. Most fans now realise and accept that pro players are mercenaries, who will go where the money & chance to win trophies are best. Fair enough - it's their career, so little room for too much sentiment. But most fans can see through players kissing the badge and declaring undying love for their club. It's time it stopped.
Posted by: Farnborough Gunner | 04 August 2008 at 03:12 PM
Dear writer, please just provide ONE validated source,and not the usual romour channels, where Adebayor stated he wanted to leave Arsenal. How much nonsense can one create? The media create the rumours, and when they turn out to be untrue, they completely ignore that fact, and carry on with their same wrong assmptions!
Posted by: Alan Rad | 04 August 2008 at 03:18 PM
I agree with Alan Rad. Actually, one root to this is the dislike for "foreigners" that burns the British media. Why pick on Adebayor; Did Lampard or Robbie Keane not kiss their badges a lot? Rooney just spit on a reporte, but that story is not the big story of the day, yet god forbid if this was done by Adebayor or Berbatov, that would become the never ending media story! Just makes you sad!
Posted by: Jo bird | 04 August 2008 at 03:23 PM
Agreed! Adebayor never said he was leaving, his agent only negotiated for a better deal. It is not very pleasant, but this is usual in any business. Ferdinand, Lampard, and so many others did the same, but no crucifix was raised for them by our dear media.
Posted by: Gooner 1 | 04 August 2008 at 03:34 PM
Jo Bird - you mentioned the Rooney spitting incident not getting coverage. In all fairness to the Independent, their cheif sports writer wrote a piece the other day:
http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/news-and-comment/james-lawton-when-all-the-camera-bulbs-stop-flashing-will-rooney-be-left-looking-back-in-anger-883338.html
Posted by: Ricey | 04 August 2008 at 04:16 PM
http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/news-and-comment/
james-lawton-when-all-the-camera-bulbs-stop-flashing-will-rooney-be-left-looking-back-in-anger-883338.html
Posted by: Ricey | 04 August 2008 at 04:17 PM
I suppose that one should give Adebayor credit for trying to re-engage with Arsenal fans even if the gesture was ill-judged. Sadly one's expectations of footballers' style and intelligence are rarely exceeded. EXCEPT for Raul who once again showed what a classy guy he is by not claiming the penalty he could probably have had because he knew that it wasn't justified.
Posted by: Graham Page | 04 August 2008 at 04:17 PM
Yes mate, top article!! Send them off and ban badge kissers for 10 games!!! LOL
Posted by: Chetan Pandya | 04 August 2008 at 05:06 PM
Ricey, you are very right. However, I did not mean that it does not get covered, I meant that the coverage is very subdued in comparison with the same situation, had it been another player involved.
Posted by: Jo Bird | 04 August 2008 at 05:15 PM
Remember kids; it's only bad when ARSENAL players start kissing their badges. Up until then the hypocrisy has been contained to just Man U and Chelsea players and good Englishmen to boot. Ban Arsenal for 10 games for anything they do because they are French.
Posted by: Timmy_the_Tooth | 04 August 2008 at 05:29 PM
I follow English football, I watch any game I can and I never miss a Premier League Review Show. But even so, when I heard about Rooney's badge-kissing, the idea that it would be disrespectful to the team or fans or that only certain players were allowed to do so was quite foreign to me. I just assumed it was another way for players to celebrate. As someone above stated, professional players are mercanaries who follow the money and trophies where they can. We Americans are quite used to it; many of my friends who support the 'American' sports (American Football, Basketball, Baseball) don't really cheer for teams as much as they cheer for players. [This player-first mentality is only fed by the popularity of fantasy leagues. I have one friend who cheered his favorite (American) football team as they drove down the field and then cursed them when they handed the ball off to score the touchdown rather than passing it to one of 'his' recievers.]
That said, I can now see why some would argue that a player has to have a certain level of dedication to his club to kiss the badge. I think there are very few players who could do so in a respectufl manner, but even the most loyal of players shouldn't do it to purposely incite the other teams' fans. Which is exactly what Rooney was doing.
Posted by: Another Damn Yankee | 28 October 2008 at 06:56 AM
Alan Smith, he was a leeds united badge kisser and he said he would never leave Leeds even if they got relegated and that he would most certainly never play for Manchester United. So what happened next , Leeds got relegated Smithy signed for Man U, end of. What a wanker he is from Leeds as well.
Posted by: Tom Slater- Holmes | 15 March 2009 at 10:36 PM