PFA Chief Executive Gordon Taylor has called for greater security to ensure players are protected from crowd abuse.
Sol Campbell also believes things are out of hand:
“We can all take the booing or light banter, but when it gets to the realms of verbal abuse it’s a bridge too far”.
He also questioned whether this sort of abuse is an infringement of a player’s human rights.
While you cannot condone some of the ridiculous abuse handed out to players on occasion (in my opinion the Ashley Cole/Arsenal situation went too far at the weekend), supporters pay a lot of money to watch these “superstars” who earn more in a week than they will in a year. If they think a certain player is a bit of a prat they have every right to say so.
On the day Manchester United defender Jonny Evans is arrested on rape allegations, and following incidents including Joey Barton putting a cigar out in a team-mate’s eye and allegations of racially motivated assault in recent years (to name but two), I wonder who needs this protection more – footballers from the public or the public from footballers.
If you’re interested you can listen to Sol Campbell’s interview with the BBC here.
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