The Dave Singh-cident

Overshadowing the vital victory over Stratford this weekend was the bizarre incident involving everyone's favourite other-Father, Dave Singh.  Dave was escorted out of the ground after a Stratford player got in the ear of the linesman and managed to twist an utterly innocuous terrace comment into something that caused the referee to threaten to abandon the game unless Dave was ejected.  I can only hope the Stratford player in question is proud of his actions and the linesman is content to have been played like a poorly tuned piano.

 

Leaving aside the obvious ridiculousness of the incident a more disquieting thought occurs.  In an honest attempt by the sport to rid football stadiums of overly foul, racist or homophobic abuse, brusque terrace badinage runs the risk of being twisted by thin-skinned players playing the system.  Are you a player getting a bit of abuse for stealing a few yards at a thrown-in?  Get jeered for slicing a clearance?  Mention to an official you've been singled out for racist abuse.  The referee will sh*t himself at the thought of not doing the right thing.  So what if an innocent fan or two are ejected?  So what if those supporters are tarred with being known as racists.  So what if the club they support gets an unjustified reputation.

Poppies social media have been all over Singh-gate and rightly so.  

As we all know, there are many reasons to dislike Dave Singh.  It's never his round at the bar.  His beard tickles when he kisses you after the Poppies score.  That bloody blue coat he's owned since the 80's.  The way he always manages to insert himself in front of you on the terrace.  His dumb-ass, annoying-as-f*ck, cheery optimism.  The mouth-meltingly hot curries he makes.  

So, so many reasons to take against Dave that pathetically making up a sneery, racist slight shows how utterly classless the player was and how dangerous it is for officials to blindly take the word of a player over such emotive issues when there is absolutely no corroboration and dozens of witnesses are telling you the exact opposite.

An artists impression of when Dave still had friends