Anelka should be banned for 16 games... this was twice as harmful as Suarez baiting Evra or Terry targeting Anton when you consider the thought behind it
- Platini's Euro 2016 farce is such a TV turn-off
- Solskjaer would be mad to work for crazy Tan at Cardiff
- Are Australian cricket team good or England just rotten?
- Leave Andy Murray be - knight him when he retires
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Dieudonne M’bala M’bala is an extremist. He started on the left, which drew him towards events in Palestine and Israel, and as this obsession grew he moved right, to Holocaust denial, 9/11 conspiracy theories, flirtations with the language and actions of anti-Semitism and hanging around with Jean-Marie Le Pen, the former president of Front National.
Dieudonne is a comedian. In 2008, he gave the academic and Holocaust denier Robert Faurisson an ‘insolent outcast’ prize on stage in Paris. The award was presented by an assistant dressed in a concentration camp outfit, complete with yellow star. Perhaps you had to be there.
In pursuit of more laughs, Dieudonne created a gesture he called la quenelle. He equates it to defiance of the system, although others believe it has quasi-Nazi intent and is nakedly used to bait Jews. Nicolas Anelka made it after scoring for West Bromwich on Saturday.
Ripple effect: Anelka's gesture knowingly brought 'la quenelle' to a new audience and could have lasting effects on British sport and society
Baiting: Luis Suarez's abuse of Patrice Evra was not a public gesture in the way Anelka's celebration was
Like Josip Simunic of Croatia, who took over a loudspeaker system to shout an extreme nationalist slogan following a World Cup win over Iceland and was banned for 10 matches, Anelka says he is surprised by the reaction to his celebration. Anelka insists he was merely showing solidarity with a friend, but this apparent lack of awareness should be approached with caution.
Dieudonne has been convicted on eight occasions of offences linked to anti-Semitism — as well as a more recent court appearance, in which he was fined close to £700,000 for tax evasion — has links to Iran and Hezbollah and the implications of la quenelle have been discussed by President Francois Hollande.
Until now, the stance has been that the gesture is too vague to invite prosecution, but as its use has grown, so the government has become nervous.
It is easy to understand why. Check YouTube for pictures of la quenelle at weddings and parties, by soldiers, policemen, on ski trips and, of course, at Auschwitz. In one reel, it is shown performed at the Holocaust memorials in Berlin and New York, on a deportation wagon in Drancy, outside synagogues in Paris, Bordeaux, Budapest and Barcelona, at the Wailing Wall and on innumerable rues de la Juiverie.
Abuse, pure and simple: John Terry's unpalatable riposte to Anton Ferdinand (second left) was made within the context of this QPR v Chelsea game
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Quenelliers
stand laughing while posing in the act outside the Creche Israelite de
Paris or the Memorial des Camps de la Mort. So it is preposterous to
believe Anelka did not know what he was doing, or the association.
He
says he was acting in support of a friend. Yet support against what? If
he knows Dieudonne requires support, then he is aware of the issues.
‘We will act to shake the tranquillity which, under the cover of anonymity, facilitates shameful actions online,’ said Hollande. ‘But also we will fight against the sarcasm of those who purport to be humourists but are actually professional anti-Semites.’ This has been interpreted as a direct reference to Dieudonne.
So
Hollande knows the score and so, almost certainly, did Anelka. Keith
Downing, caretaker manager of West Brom, didn’t, so he made a fool of
himself by defending his player. ‘I think the speculation can be
stopped now, it is rubbish really,’ said Downing. ‘Nicolas is totally
unaware of what the problems were. It has got nothing to do with what is
being said.’
Oh yes it has. La quenelle is a way of making a semi-Nazi gesture without getting arrested, just as Dieudonne’s coining of the term shoananas — crushing the Hebrew word for Holocaust into the French word for pineapple — has become a cute way to deny the Holocaust without contravening French laws.
Many quenelliers pose with pineapples in their pictures. Indeed, the controversy around these antics are such that to be Dieudonne’s friend, or his fan, and not know this, would be akin to claiming to be on Team Nigella while professing not to be aware of any drug allegations.
This is what Dieudonne is, this is what he does, la quenelle defines him — and now Anelka has brought that ghastly package to a wider audience. And some of them will be receptive.
If
you didn’t know la quenelle before — and chances are, you didn’t — you
do now and do not doubt that there will be imitators. So, what Anelka
did was twice as harmful to British sport and British society as Luis
Suarez’s baiting of Patrice Evra, or John Terry’s riposte to Anton
Ferdinand.
Nationalist outburst: Croatia's Josip Simunic was banned for 10 matches after his rant over a loudspeaker
Showing solidarity? Anelka (left) did 'la quenelle' on Saturday in support of his friend Dieudonne M'bala M'bala, but unfortunately the comedian is an extremist
'Anelka brought this to a wider audience, and he did so knowingly. To suggest an innocent misunderstanding, though, insults our intelligence.'
What Suarez
said, what Terry said, was for private consumption, no matter how
unpalatable. It was in the context of a game, and was not intended to be
heard beyond that game. There was no message to the wider world, no
belief system.
It was abuse, pure and simple. Horrid, racist abuse, but ultimately meaningless. Like ranting nutters on the train, the words may be offensive but they do not go anywhere.
Anelka’s
gesture does. It causes ripples. It introduces people to a cynical way
to deny the Holocaust, or strike an anti-Semitic pose without getting
arrested. YouTube is full of quenelliers posing beside unsuspecting
Hasidic Jews or Jewish celebrities, who smile dumbly, while the friendly
stranger makes a gesture designed to demean and humiliate them.
Anelka brought this to a wider audience, and he did so knowingly. His best defence would be that the gesture was spontaneous; he scored, and did not think too hard about the ramifications of his celebration. To suggest an innocent misunderstanding, though, insults our intelligence.
English
football has many problems, but anti-Semitism is not high among them.
Yes, there are one or two grounds where sinister hissing noises can be
heard when Tottenham visit, and the whole Yid Army debate has dragged
the game into a moral maze but, for the most part, Jewish football fans
can attend matches without feeling threatened. Anelka has jeopardised
that.
Shame: Anelka netted twice against West Ham only to sour the occasion with his ill-advised celebration
Powerless: Jussi Jaaskelainen watches Anelka's strike roll over his line at Upton Park
Don't say good knight just yet
It appears Andy Murray will not be knighted in the New Year Honours due to protocol reasons too petty to repeat.
Even so, thank heavens. The man endures enough pressure at Wimbledon as it is without being announced as Sir Andrew Murray every time he steps on Centre Court.
Sporting knighthoods should be collected on retirement. If he (pictured above) doesn’t get one then, it’s an outrage. For now, leave him be.
What if la
quenelle catches on? What if the Football Association take action
against him and a section of the crowd at West Brom start doing it in
support of their striker? What if fans visiting White Hart Lane begin
making it? Cries of ‘Yid Army’ at one end, massed ranks of quenelliers
at the other?
What if
Anelka has thoughtlessly, uncaringly introduced a set of issues to
English football that simply did not exist before December 28, 2013?
He is not Dieudonne’s only friend over here. At least two Newcastle United players are acquaintances of his as well.
Mamadou
Sakho of Liverpool claims he was tricked into making la quenelle for
the camera last month. Yet what if Anelka’s display catches on?
Anti-social behaviour that is not stopped is as good as encouraged.
Where does this end?
The FA have a dilemma. Performing la quenelle isn’t, without context, an illegal or offensive act. As the French have found, whatever the meaning, its design is subtle enough to evade prosecution. It is not out there like the verbal attacks of Suarez or Terry. It is insidious. It permeates. And, as such, its potential for spiteful harm is far greater.
There will always be racist words and racist speech. The right people deplore racism, the wrong people embrace it, society deals with it as best it can and moves on.
This is
different. Through the decades, the strongest reason for the English
league to resist an outstretched hand to Rangers and Celtic has been
that the fan culture of those clubs is based on religious division.
Duped: Mamadou Sakho (right) claims he was tricked into performing the salute
Nobody in England cares who is Protestant or Catholic, so why introduce sectarianism? The same can be said of la quenelle.
This is not about free speech or freedom of expression. There is no freedom to falsely shout ‘fire’ in a crowded cinema. Not all words and gestures are permissible.
Once
Britain became aware of the meaning of Anelka’s gesture — and in our
modern social media world it did not take long for the outrage felt in
France to filter over here — the danger was obvious.
We do not know where this goes now and can only hope that Anelka and his comedian friend do not become a cause celebre.
Despite this, any punishment should be exemplary. Suarez received eight matches, double that would not be too harsh. Were Anelka not seen again this season it will be no loss, and no injustice.
This is not a gesture without meaning. There is a philosophy here, one that has no place on the football field or beyond. The creator of la quenelle knew what he was doing; so did Anelka. It is time to kick him out, no matter his denials.
Ole would be mad to work with crazy Tan
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer seems a bright bloke, so one hopes he understands how this Cardiff City job offer pans out. Meet Mehmet Dalman, get Vincent Tan. That’s the bottom line.
Chairman Dalman is being conveniently positioned as the sensible face of Cardiff, wheeled out to clean up the latest mess, but the real power is with owner Tan. Always with Tan. Only with Tan. Last seen with a Cardiff shirt tucked into his suit trousers, booing his own players. Meet the new boss, Ole, insane like the old boss.
Know what you're getting into: Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, currently boss of Molde and frontrunner for the Cardiff job, is an intelligent man but would he be able to work with Vincent Tan?
So Dalman talks of having a No 1
target and hints that he might have opened talks with Solskjaer, but any
thought that he runs Cardiff is fanciful. The sudden departure of Malky
Mackay tells its own story. He lasted less than a week after Dalman
claimed he would be manager for the foreseeable future.
Tan
got rid of him and then issued a statement accusing Mackay of
disloyalty. It seems he will have to go to court to get his rightful
compensation, too. Why would anyone of stature wish to work with Tan?
His time was up: Malky Mackay was sacked by Cardiff owner Tan less than a week after being told by chairman Mehmet Dalman that his job was safe for the 'forseeable future'
The real power: Tan boos after Sunderland equalise on Saturday - why would anyone want to work for him?
Gold Medel: If Cardiff are going to bring in players from Sevilla, as they did with Gary Medel, they're going to have to pay a lot
His minions think they have damaged Mackay by leaking details of agents’ fees and image rights deals from this summer’s transfer activity, but that gun has gone off half-cock, too.
Cardiff fans are not idiots. They
know that players are not prised from Tottenham or Sevilla without
financial inducement; they know that their club needs to be sold as a
project to a talent like Gary Medel, who has made 58 appearances for
Chile. They also know that transfer expenditure is sanctioned higher up
the chain of command than the manager.
Tan’s
people talk a good game about the new man’s generous budget, but when
Mackay’s compensation case comes to court, what is the betting that
alleged overspending in the transfer market is part of the battle to
shaft him?
Tan is getting the results his stewardship deserves and he should be left alone with them for a good while longer.
Solskjaer will get better opportunities than working with a man whose egotistical posturing overrides every concept of grace and common sense. He booed his own players. Now it is his turn.
Platini's Euro farce is such a TV turn-off
How very amusing to note UEFA’s breathless announcement that the 2016 European Championship qualifiers will be played under a ‘Week of Football’ format with games scheduled every day from Thursday to Tuesday.
It means eight to 10 matches will be contested each day, ensuring maximum live TV coverage — of the most boring qualification process in the history of European football.
Thanks to Michel Platini’s ruinous brainwave, Euro 2016 will be made up of 23 teams from a 53-team pool, plus hosts France. This means there is a 43.4 per cent chance of qualifying.
Weak idea: UEFA's 'Week of Football' for the Euro 2016 qualifiers will be a snorefest thanks to Michel Platini's ruinous brainwave to increase the tournament to 24 teams
Uninspiring: Under the new system, Steve McClaren's England would have made the play-offs after coming third in their Euro 2008 qualification group
Who wants saturation coverage of
that? Second-placed teams will no longer be vulnerable, so the crunch
battles will be between third and fourth. In the last qualification
process the key games would have included Armenia-Slovakia,
Serbia-Slovenia and Israel-Latvia. Beyond the countries involved, these
are uninspiring events.
Spain drawn in France’s group would no longer be an issue. Both would be certain to progress.
Put
it like this: when that third Croatia goal went in at Wembley in 2007,
it would not have mattered a jot under the new procedure.
Steve McClaren’s England came third in the group, so would have been guaranteed at least a play-off and another chance. And this would have been known before kick-off. UEFA’s Week of Football will be a snoozefest. Turn on, tune in, drop off.
And while we're at it...
All winter we’ve been talking of the excellent plans Australia have executed to England’s batsmen.
Events in Melbourne suggest they are wasted on such unworthy opposition. No detailed plot was needed to win the fourth Test. Nathan Lyon did the damage bowling relatively straight. A blunt attack with all fight ripped out and dismal fielding did the rest.
Sorry bunch: Engl;and are so poor it is becoming difficult to properly judge the victorious Australians
Winning runs: Shane Watson (left) and Michael Clarke celebrate victory
Sadly, so poor are England that it is becoming impossible to judge Michael Clarke’s team. Are Australia good or England rotten? Have players that lost three Ashes series undergone rapid and brilliant improvement or have England been spineless and ill-equipped to deal with adversity?
It
appears we will have to wait for Australia’s series against South
Africa to discover the truth. Nothing can be measured against this sorry
bunch.
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mike, perth, 14 hours ago
but it doesn't mean anything... it is a random body action that some attention craving "celebrity" made up. it's like a childish boys club private joke, its a bit pathetic really. it's the equivalent of tuiligi making bunny ears behind David Cameron, or me sticking out my tongue, pulling my cheeks apart and then claiming it's my own protest against the government. you and the media are giving it the unjustified publicity, the majority don't know or care what this group of idiots think.