It's hard to avoid whiff of hypocrisy in Rooney's FA charge
By Martin Samuel Last updated at 10:50 PM on 4th April 2011
Wayne Rooney is on a charge, but the one placed against the Football Association this morning is just as serious.
It is a charge of hypocrisy. It is a charge of turning a blind eye to Rooney's excesses when it suited them, it is a charge of inconsistency, of self interest, of actually contributing to a problem they would now like to be seen to solve, of having one rule for Rooney on England duty, another for the player in the shirt of Manchester United.
Wayne's World: The United striker was charged on Monday after his foul-mouthed tirade
Wayne's World: The United striker was charged on Monday after his foul-mouthed tirade
For this is not the first time Rooney's furious features have snarled an assault into the ears of the unsuspecting armchair viewer.
June 18, 2010, Group C qualifier, England 0 Algeria 0 at the Green Point Stadium in Cape Town. Rooney was leaving the field after the most abject performance of Fabio Capello's tenure as England manager.
Those that had travelled to a far continent in England's name were not happy. Rooney turned to address the camera lens. 'Nice to hear your own fans booing you,' he said. 'That's what you call loyal support. For f***'s sake.'
And the FA did ... nothing. How could they? Like the rest of the country they were waiting, hoping, desperately for Rooney to come good in South Africa. They didn't want any trouble.
Rood gesture: Rooney hits out at England fans following the 0-0 draw against Algeria at the World Cup
Rood gesture: Rooney hits out at England fans following the 0-0 draw against Algeria at the World Cup
They didn't want to stand down England's best player for the final group game with Slovenia. They didn't want to weaken Capello's side, and England's chances, yet further. They didn't want to police, to govern, to consider a charge of bringing the game into disrepute, or even publicly reprimand their man.
So they let it slide and because anything that is not stopped is encouraged, here we are again. Fast forward roughly 10 months and Rooney is living life through a lens once more.
After his outburst at Upton Park the FA have now decided something must be done. He has been charged, and the intelligence is that he will receive a two-game ban, one of which will take him out of the FA Cup semi-final with Manchester City.
And if Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson vents his anger at this today, prior to the Champions League match with Chelsea, he most certainly has a case.
Volley of abuse: Wayne Rooney swears at the camera - and a live television audience of millions - after scoring his third goal
Not because Rooney's behaviour wasn't odious and reprehensible. It was. Not because spite-fuelled, arrogant goal celebrations are not sucking the joy out of football. They are. Not because Rooney does not need to rein in his extremes of behaviour. He does.
Ferguson has a case because the FA would appear to have two rulebooks: one for when their own ambitions would be thwarted by firm punishment, and one that applies to the clubs.
This was precisely what Mark Palios, the former FA chief executive, was trying to avoid the day he ordered Rio Ferdinand to be stood down from international duty before a match in Istanbul.
England were playing Turkey in the final game of the 2004 European Championship qualifiers that Saturday. The following Monday, once the official paperwork had been properly processed, Palios knew Ferdinand was going to be charged for missing a drugs test at Manchester United's training ground.
He thought it would look as if the FA had selfishly got their worth out of Ferdinand, a key defender in a match England could not afford to lose, before charging him. He thought the organisation would appear morally compromised; he also feared that Turkey might bring the sequence of events to UEFA's attention, claiming England had acted in bad faith.
Rio Ferdinand
Mark Palios
The right decision: Palios (right) forced the withdrawal of Ferdinand from the England squad back in 2003
Dropping Ferdinand caused a furious backlash, and almost a players' strike, but it was the right thing to do, just as charging Rooney is wrong because the FA's prior pragmatism leaves their motives this time open to question.
There should have been a clean break, a warning that further instances of this nature would not be tolerated, not just from Rooney, but from any player. Then the FA could have policed the game with some credibility.
Instead, they stand this morning hopelessly compromised. If football is to improve its image then, of course, its ugly excesses must be addressed, but the FA cannot expect to punish Manchester United with rules it was not prepared to implement on its own watch.
They had the chance to police the game in Cape Town and they stood on the street corner, twirling the truncheon and looking the other way.
Read more:
Wayne Rooney's FA charge smells of hypocrisy - Martin Samuel | Mail Online
