There's been a bit of a furore this week regarding footballers promoting their beliefs by removing their shirts only to reveal an amusing and/or socially aware message on their undergarments. First of all we had lil' Stevie P removing his top after scoring against Spurs on Sunday, to reveal a message reading 'God is Great.'
Nothing wrong with that you might imagine, but in the eyes of the FA this is seen as some kind of heretical propoganda and our boy in Blue was subsequently yellow-carded. Which is a bit absurd when you think about it, because while I don't ally myself to any particular religious school-of-thought I don't take any offence at someone else promoting theirs, particularly when they've just scored a winner at White Hart Lane. Maybe it was God that caused Peanuts' shot to careen wildly off Corluka's leg under the typically flailing body of Gomes. But then again, maybe it wasn't. Who cares?
This sort of behaviour has come under even more scrutiny since then with the Liverpool team wearing 'Free Michael Now,' t-shirts while warming up before the West Ham game on Monday. At first I thought this was a plea to Joe Kinnear and Mike Ashley to free Michael Owen from his Newcastle-based purgatory, but apparently not. And while I usually have little good to say about the Koppites, I think it was pretty ballsy of them to flex some socially-aware muscles and try and promote a cause which they believe in, be it right or not. But again our beloved FA have investigated the matter, and while no sanctions have been handed down, the mere fact they're sticking their nose in just rubs me the wrong way.
If it'd been some kind of riot-inciting political diatribe, then fair enough, but isn't it the job of a 'local,' team (I had to put that in inverted commas) to represent the beliefs and feelings of their supporters and local area? I'm just getting the impression that the FA are trying to neuter our beloved game on behalf of all 'upstanding citizens,' (Daily Mail readers) who physically vomit at the merest hint of a naked torso or naughty swear-word...