‘It’s disgraceful,’ came the calls.
‘The law needs to be changed,’ yelled others.
Nope, not the laws that allow an innocent man be persecuted by the national media because he likes art and stuff and used to have blue hair, but Frederic Piquionne’s sending off against Everton at the weekend.
The Frenchman – already on a yellow card – ran into the crowd to celebrate his 84th minute goal and was booked for his over-exuberance.
And deservedly so. Not because ‘it was the letter of the law’, but because it was the right thing to do.
You can understand his excitement. Coming so late in the game, the goal could have been a winner and could have lifted West Ham out of the bottom three.
However. Piquionne didn’t just celebrate in front of his fans, he left the field of play, leapt a barrier and jumped into his grateful supporters.
Remember, he only received a booking for the offence. It just happened to be his second.
His manager Avram Grant described it as a joke. No, you’re wrong. Gazza getting booked for booking the ref after the official dropped his cards is a joke. What Piquionne did was far worse.
Imagine it this way instead. After enduring several years of mismanagement at board and pitch level, watching prima donna footballers earn as much in a week as you do in two or three years put in less effort than James Corden at Weight Watchers and seeing your side rock bottom of the Prem, you still decide to fork out for the trip from London to Merseyside to see your beloved Hammers take on Everton.
It’s a tight encounter. But with six minutes to go, Frederic Piquionne scores. He runs towards where you’re standing, but not only that, he leaps over a barrier to celebrate even nearer you.
Well, if he can do it, why can’t you? You leap over the barrier to celebrate with him.
Piquionne is sent off and gets a short ban. You, the long-suffering fan, are taken away by the police and could find yourself banned from attending professional football matches for life.
Players are entitled to celebrate their goals, but what Piquionne did – and players like Adebayor and Gascoigne with his flute celebration in Scotland as well in the past have done – is incitement.
He was lucky just to get away with a booking.
