James McClean

[Two Hands FFS]

Kirk Broadfoot given 10 match ban for sectarian abuse to McClean in match last season.

[deiseach]

"Of course, the analogy doesn't work, because it implies some sort of correlation between the Queen and the Nazi salute, which would be entirely ludicrous"

Going by the photographs McClean faced the flag with everyone else, then turned away from it. Clearly bringing attention to himself.

I don't see the relationship between your comment and the bit you quoted.

[imtommygunn]

Kirk Broadfoot given 10 match ban for sectarian abuse to McClean in match last season.

Chanting anti IRA slogans at him apparently.

[deiseach]

Kirk Broadfoot has been handed a staggering 10-game ban for a sectarian tirade against James McClean - Mirror

Kirk Broadfoot has been handed a staggering 10-game ban for launching a verbal tirade against James McClean - Daily Record

[illdecide]

I read this article in yesterday's Daily Mirror and thought it was good and actually someone with a bit of sense...



Asking God to save the British Army's commander-in-chief would, to quote one of his critics, be "insulting, stupid and hypocritical" to those he cares about

http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/brian-reade-column-james-mcclean-6117991

 

Youtube/Charleston Battery James McClean turns his back during national anthem
Personal protest: McClean didn't turn to face the flag or sing the anthem     

There are several ways a footballer is usually shamed on the news pages, rather than the sports ones, during a summer.

He lets his country down by blasting a penalty over a bar in a foreign stadium, lets his club down by getting drunk in a Las Vegas swimming pool, or lets himself down as a kiss-and-tell merchant spills the beans on his inability to rise to the occasion in a budget hotel in Stoke.

But it's rare for a player to get slaughtered on the news pages for refusing to let down his own people.

That is what  has happened to James McClean, after turning away from the flag of St George and refusing to sing the British national anthem before a game on West Brom's US pre-season tour:

"Fury at Premier League star who turned his back on God Save the Queen" screamed a right-wing tabloid, extracting that fury from a rent-a-quote Democratic Ulster Unionist MP.

Meanwhile, a broadsheet football writer told his audience of retired generals that McClean's behaviour was "insulting, stupid and hypocritical. This was a disrespectful act that hints at something ugly in his views."

Naturally, there followed a thunderstorm of ill-informed, scum-based bile on Twitter with social media's finest brains likening him to Jihadi John and calling for his deportation (which would be the first internal deportation ever).

As the Mail reminded us, Derry-born McClean is "no stranger to controversy" when it comes to Anglo-Irish politics, having previously refused to wear a shirt with a poppy sewn into it, as he saw it as "a gesture of disrespect for the innocent people who lost their lives in the Troubles."

For those who don't get that principle (or those who refuse to), let me explain.

McClean isn't just another rabble-rousing Fenian who refuses to let the past go.



Gareth Copley 
Opting out: McClean plays without a poppy on his shirt for Wigan last season

He is a man from a specific area of a specific city which, until recently, was so subjugated by the British state that voting was rigged to ensure the unionist minority always ruled.

That, in turn, saw the Catholic majority kept at the bottom of the housing and job vacancy lists.

They took to the streets in civil-rights marches, which became anti-internment marches, like the one in 1972 in which British soldiers opened fire on 26 unarmed civilians, killing 14, many of whom were shot while fleeing or helping the wounded. And the truth of Bloody Sunday was denied and covered up by the British state for more than a generation.

That is why McClean can't find it in him to pay tribute to the British Army, including its commander-in-chief the Queen.

Do you really think he should be forced to sing a ditty asking God to save her so she can reign over him, gloriously?

Christ only knows why the Yanks choose to play national anthems at club games anyway, but if a Palestinian whose relatives had been bombed in Gaza was playing for Maccabi Haifa in Texas, would we call him a hypocritical sc**bag for refusing to join in with the Israeli anthem?

How about a black American playing in Alabama and refusing to salute the Confederate flag?

Surely, unless you've lived inside their skin, you cannot moralise about their instinctive reaction?

McClean wasn't saying he hated his English fans, team-mates or employers, but the symbols of the British state.

To many Derry Catholics that flag, and that anthem, open deep wounds.

Some, like Martin McGuinness, have been able to let the wounds heal. Others, like McClean, haven't.

That's why he feels uncomfortable asking God to save the head of the British Army. Because to quote one of his many hysterical critics, to do so would appear "insulting, stupid and hypocritical" to the people he cares about.

Which is why instead of attacking his treachery we should be commending his courage.

[Orior]

Kirk Broadfoot has been handed a staggering 10-game ban for a sectarian tirade against James McClean - Mirror

Kirk Broadfoot has been handed a staggering 10-game ban for launching a verbal tirade against James McClean - Daily Record

A new hero for the occupied six fans

[Milltown Row2]

Kirk Broadfoot has been handed a staggering 10-game ban for a sectarian tirade against James McClean - Mirror

Kirk Broadfoot has been handed a staggering 10-game ban for launching a verbal tirade against James McClean - Daily Record

A new hero for the occupied six fans

Wouldn't have too many players in the Irish League playing if they handed out sectarian/verbal tirade during the games against Linfield and the rest v  Cliftonville and DC

[50fiftyball]

Surely the time is coming when English club chairmen and managers decide that he's just not worth the hassle?

There's only so many times you can stick two fingers up to your club's fan base.

Lad needs taught about when to fight his battles.

Exactly, how is he sticking two fingers up to the fanbase? He trains, plays, and represents the team and takes part in everything a team member is expected to do as a professional soccer player. If he turns his back on the English national anthem and flag that is 100% his own choice, show me a rule or point out somewhere in the book it states he must adhere to it? Your the one seeking attention, much like all his twitter criticisers, jumping on the media bandwagon and dragging down something which has absolutely nothing to do with the game of football itself.

It isn't in his contract, and until it is, he can play away and turn his back on the English flag before every game if that were the case.

[deiseach]

Exactly, how is he sticking two fingers up to the fanbase? He trains, plays, and represents the team and takes part in everything a team member is expected to do as a professional soccer player. If he turns his back on the English national anthem and flag that is 100% his own choice, show me a rule or point out somewhere in the book it states he must adhere to it? Your the one seeking attention, much like all his twitter criticisers, jumping on the media bandwagon and dragging down something which has absolutely nothing to do with the game of football itself.

It isn't in his contract, and until it is, he can play away and turn his back on the English flag before every game if that were the case.

When his next contract is coming up, a manager may look at him and think that AN Other is likely to be less hassle, there's not much difference between the two so this could be the tiebreaker etc

Then again, there's likely to be a manager out there who admires how:

[OakleafCounty]

http://www.derryjournal.com/news/james-mcclean-backs-derry-name-change-bid-1-6868486 He loves the banter.

[eddie d]

"Of course, the analogy doesn't work, because it implies some sort of correlation between the Queen and the Nazi salute, which would be entirely ludicrous"

Going by the photographs McClean faced the flag with everyone else, then turned away from it. Clearly bringing attention to himself.

I don't see the relationship between your comment and the bit you quoted.

No relationship, the quotation was in reply to other posters referring to the English team and the Nazi salute in the 1930's

[moysider]

He agreed to play for an English team and is paid well. The season ticket pundits that are paying his wages must love that.
Nobody asked him to sing the bloody thing. Just stand up with the all the other lads and keep his mouth shut. Ulster rugby players playing for Ireland have been doing that for years, but they don t disrespect the anthem by turning away.

let him do his stuff on the pitch. He's a footballer - let him become a politician when he can't play footballer any more. He can play a bit but all I see mostly is a mess of tattoos and this disrespect to a club and fans that pays his wages.

He d want to cop himself on. If he doesn t like the vibe there why not go play in Greece or Turkey where they would be no chance of being offended?

[STREET FIGHTER]

Each to their own.....

The castigation of JMcC here is unbelievable.

He his own views on the issues.

Rightly or wrongly he has shown great courage given the the backlash that was facing him.....

Castigation?? He's been called silly stupid or petulant.... And strong brave and having courage by others.. Get a grip.. Each to their point of view on the subject eh?

Good man.

Each to their own is right.

[stew]

Wonder what his reaction will be when the queen awards him an OBE for services to crap football teams.

Crap football teams? Really? What teams did you play for if the teams he played for are crap? Barca, Real Madrid?

[stew]

All I see when watching that is a lad who realizes what is going to go down and does his best to make the best out of an uncomfortable situation, I am sure some of his mates on the team were pissed at him but fair fcuks to him.

There are enough shinners taking the queens shilling, why should McLean not do the same, the man is entitled to make a living and hold political views, as are we all.