Why this “can I have your shirt?” crap needs to stop
Eden Hazard, what have you done? Not only did the little Belgian magician completely tear Brighton and Hove Albion apart back in January when Chelsea visited the Amex, but even worse, he also gave his shirt to a boy in the crowd holding up a home made sign. Look what you’ve started, Eden.
We weren’t too impressed by that at the time. Sure, the kid wanted one of the best players in the world’s shirt which is fair enough. But the parents who stood there gleefully clapping and smiling at a bloke who had just tormented our team for 90 minutes? Get a grip.
The general defence of it in the aftermath of the Chelsea game was “It’s a one off” and “You’d do it if it was Messi or Ronaldo”. In fact, we got quite a bit of stick on Twitter for pointing that it wasn’t a good thing. And for once, one of our drunken post-game rambles on there has proven to be right.
It hasn’t been a one off you see, folks. And it isn’t Messi or Ronaldo. At the Arsenal game there were signs across the stadium asking for the shirts of Mesut Ozil, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and goodness knows who else. And the problem is only getting worse. It won’t be long before the East Stand will look like a socialist workers march with crap, home made pieces of cardboard spouting absolute shit for as far as the eye can see.
These are apparently Brighton fans sitting in Brighton seats in Brighton’s stadium asking for Arsenal players shirts. It’s little wonder that most other clubs in the country point to our supporters and shout “plastic” as the answer to how we managed to increase our average crowd five fold in the space of a couple of seasons. Of course, that conveniently ignores the realities of Withdean’s capacity and the fact it was like something out of the third world. But this makes it seem like they’ve got a point when they say that over half our crowd is made of supporters of the big six who only watch Brighton as a second team or who supported somebody else pre-Amex. After all, if you only support Brighton, then why on earth would you want the shirt of a player from another team?
If we were a League Two side hosting Premier League opponents at home in the FA Cup, then perhaps it would understandable. But we’re not. We’re competing in the same league at the same level, going toe-to-toe with the likes of Ozil and Aubameyang every week and this sort of hero worship makes the Albion look tinpot. Never mind the fact that Pascal Gross and Glenn Murray made Ozil and Auameyang look like League Two players on Sunday. Where were the “Murray 17 can I have your shirt please?” or the “Gross bitte gibt mir euer Trikot?” signs as they were the real superstars on show.
If you’re going to ask for a shirt, then Brighton supporters should be asking for Brighton shirts – you know, the team you are meant to be there to support – and you’ll much more likely get them. Davy Propper gave his to somebody in the North Stand after Sunday and Maty Ryan has done it a few times this season as part of his generally ridiculous over-the-top celebrations of everything and anything. If you support the Albion, that should mean more to you than Ozil’s shirt which won’t even have an ounce of sweat from the lazy bastard on it.
The kids might not know any better, but the parents bloody should. This starts and ends with those parents, especially those clapping and cheering as their little darling holds up a sign hero worshipping a bloke from the opposition. Back in the late 1990s when the WeAreBrighton.com team were growing up, if we’d have wanted to take a “Gareth Ainsworth can I have your shirt please?” sign to the Goldstone, our parents would’ve either given us a slap or put us up for adoption. (Ainsworth scored 22 goals for Lincoln City in the 1996-97 season and also had great hair).
We were Brighton fans and nobody else – not Ainsworth, not Graeme Jones (31 goals for Wigan Athletic), not Warren Aspinall (ran from the halfway line to score one of the great individual goals for Carlisle at the Goldstone), not even David Beckham had we ever been able to get far enough in a cup to draw Manchester United could compare to Craig Maskell, Ian Baird and Stuart Storer.
If your kid is that desperate to get the shirt of an Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester United or Spurs player, then get them a ticket in the away end to do it. Failing that, take them to the Emirates, Stamford Bridge, Old Trafford or Wembley were they can see their heroes and try and get their shirt every week.
They and you clearly aren’t Albion fans if you don’t appreciate the hard work the players have put in to get us into the Premier League and with most games a sell out at the Amex, it’s a real shame these people are taking up seats that could go to genuine Albion fans, not those there who simply want a shirt from their favourite player of one of the big six.
You’re meant to be there to sing, cheer and support the Albion, not worship the opposition. And that is why this “can I have your shirt” crap needs to stop.
