JUSTIN DUNN’S ROOM 101 Losing was bad...the mindless reaction from knobheads was worse
WHAT’S ANNOYING HIM THIS WEEK?
BY all means be pissed off that England didn’t bring football home.
Be choked that the otherwise indisputably sound decisions made by Gareth Southgate sadly ended with a duff one – asking an inexperienced youngster to take a penalty at the highest level.
Groan about the fact that there’s one idiot who has to invade the pitch mid-match in the vainglorious hope it’ll land him a shot on Love Island or some such utter tripe.
And bemoan the awful truth that, yet again, we’ve pulled up short in the worst but most predictable way.
Getting glum about any of that is fair enough. Drown your sorrows like the rest of us.
Because, of course, you’re allowed to be down in the dumps about it.
But what on earth has any of that got to do with the colour of someone’s skin?
Waking up on Monday morning was bad enough as memories of the night before suddenly came hurtling back.
Racists
Most of the headlines remained really positive though, rightly praising Southgate and Co for a dignified and much improved England campaign.
But then the wretchedly inevitable “other” headlines came up, too.
Some social media morons somehow managed to conflate a few skewed kicks of a bag of air into some sort of justifiable reason to be out and out racists.
Not only is this grotesque, ignorant, stupid, it is entirely senseless too.
The team we all screamed our lungs out for on Sunday evening will likely be the exact same team we’ll be screaming our lungs out for at the World Cup next summer. Or will we? Who could blame some of the younger players, already feeling like they’ve been punched in the guts, if they hang up on their international careers on the grounds that the disgusting reactions of a tiny group of brain dead knobheads simply make the whole playing-for-your-country thing not worth it.
This isn’t about whether or not you agree with the taking the knee stuff.
It’s about treating people with the most basic decency and respect for having the balls to stand up and be counted before thousands in a stadium and millions more watching on TV around the globe.
Ignorant
It’s about saying bloody well done and thanks for giving us your best efforts.
It’s about offering a consoling arm around slumped shoulders and saying genuinely: “Better luck next time.”
Because there will be a next time, and sooner than you think.
Only hopefully, there won’t be a next time for pillocks who can’t see beyond their own thick, ignorant noses that all they did was watch a football match, not a war.
Gareth Southgate will hate the horrible truth about his own infamous missed penalty at Euro ’96 now being added to his failure to lead England to success in a tournament final spot-kick shootout. But that really shouldn’t matter. He’s led that team with grace and his attitude has clearly trickled down into the arteries of the players.
Arteries which, it shouldn’t even need to be said, all carry the samecoloured blood.