Fàbregas “Scandal” Shows Hypocrisy & Double Standard Yet Again

For those who may have missed it, going into the halftime break in the tunnel at the Emirates on Tuesday night, Arsenal’s captain Cesc Fàbregas, was alleged by Everton’s manager, David Moyes, to have claimed Everton paid off the match official(s). 

Moyes claims that the 4th official was in earshot of the comment & was alleged to have heard Fàbregas make the assertion.  Now, to my knowledge ALL 4 officials scheduled for a match consult & have to agree with the information provided in a signed, official match report though an assistant official can file a separate report as claimed here.  So, if the 4th official heard Fàbregas’ comment(s) why was it not put into the match report filed & submitted to the FA by the head official, Lee Mason? 

Wenger didn’t really help the matter with his explanation which was a bit contradictory although I think he has a point when he said:

"“There is nothing to clarify because I just clarified it.  If Cesc was guilty, he would’ve been charged.”"

To which Moyes responded by saying,

"“who are you going to believe me or Arsène Wenger?”"

Which likely means “who are you going to believe?  A Brit like myself, like YOU! dearest English football fan!  Or are you going to believe me or a lying Frenchman?”

Now, what I find so amusing about this situation is possibly say something in the heat of the moment about an official’s or a club’s integrity about bribes, phantom &/or fictional bribes at this point, mind you, & it’s banshee-like howling over how Cesc Fàbregas has stained the game forever (FOREVER!) & isn’t fit to be a captain.  But if you go into a challenge with “commitment!” & “determination!” & happen to break a guy’s leg or ankle, it’s just getting “stuck in” & playing a “physical” style of ball.  Behavior like the latter not only is accepted in England but often over-the-line physical play is often excused away & even subtly cheered in some pundit circles as “showing those non-English players how ‘real men’ play!”  Never mind in reality, it shows a different lack of integrity, i.e. purposefully trying to intimidate through a type of violence, albeit a minor form of it, against a team or player that may be better skilled than you. 

But in England, often the key allegation in incidents like this is that the culprit isn’t English.  Generally, the media in England will kick stories like this until they’re dead if the culprit is non-English all the while Golden Boys such as Wayne Rooney & Frank Lampard can lambaste & curse at officials with impunity.  Spare the cursing is different than questioning an official’s integrity argument too, please.  Because it’s all layers of the integrity onion.  They both show lack of respect for the authority of a match official never mind they both also show the lack of sportsmanship that the English media always bemoan. 

However, it sure seems like foreign players’ lack of sportsmanship is scrutinized more often & made more of in the media than the English player’s lack of sportsmanship.  Hypocrisy, thy name be the English media!  Which often is nothing more than excuse-making by the English media to make up for the fact that generally speaking, England & English players aren’t as good as they think they are.  Yes, I just said that.

Yes, I admit I am biased towards Arsenal & Arseblogger, an excellent Arsenal blogger states the Arsenal point of view more clearly (& more irreverently) in posts here & here.  Another good Arsenal point of view can be found here.

The FA has already (albeit initially) stated they will not conduct a further investigation over the incident, which in most cases, such as in the real world, would mean the matter is over.  But unlike the famous saying, “it ain’t over until it’s over,” apparently these days, the saying seems to be “it ain’t over until the media can’t make a story out of it anymore.”