This piece was originally written for my Beyond the Ninety column on Voom Football
Joey Barton
is not an easy man to like. Lurching from one controversy to another his career
has seen two criminal convictions for assault, and he has been charged with
violent conduct three times by the Football Association. Off the pitch he
bristled with brash, arrogant egotism. He would pillory teammates and managers
and I remember one interview Barton gave to Football Focus – at a time when
both Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard were both in their pomp – where he
declared himself the best English midfielder around.
And yet I
have of late been warming to the QPR midfielder as he continues to remodel
himself as an online social commentator. His latest foray onto social media
came as Israel launched their recent brutal attacks on the people of Gaza.
During the course of the conflict more than 2,000 Palestinians have been
killed, 400 of whom have been children. Barton took to Twitter to say, “If this
was anybody else but Israel the West would intervene. It cannot continue.
Innocent children being slaughtered. This must stop.”
Barton’s
position was both principled and brave and he wasn’t the only sportsperson to
show solidarity with the Palestinian people. Mario Balotelli tweeted his outage
when four Gazan children were killed playing football on a beach; England
cricketer Moeen Ali wore “Free Palestine” wristbands; Malaysian cyclist
Azizulhasni Awang had the words “Free Gaza” written on his gloves during the
Commonwealth Games.
Previously
Barton has used social media to speak out against homophobia in football,
racism in sport and quoted George Orwell during his takedown of the FA. His
burgeoning reputation is such that he was even invited to appear on the BBC’s Question Time programme earlier this
year. Barton blotted his copybook only once in what was otherwise a
self-assured performance. During a comment about the elections which had
recently taken place he suggested, "If I'm somewhere and there was four
really ugly girls, I'm thinking she's not the worst - that's all UKIP are."
It was a misogynistic
comment and Barton was rightly taken to task by one young woman in the
audience. To his credit he held his hands up and apologised for the crass remark.
Which means we live in a country where you’re more likely to see a Premier
League footballer say sorry for saying something sexist than a politician
apologise for diddling their expenses or launching an illegal war in the Middle
East. Go figure.
But not
everything Joey Barton comes out with is progressive or enlightened. Amidst the
comedy spats with such figures as Gary Lineker, Dietmar Hamann and Martin
Samuel have been some downright offensive remarks. His description of Thiago
Silva as an “overweight ladyboy” was the kind of transphobic insult you might
expect from an insecure teenage boy. Similarly his suggestion that the people
on the Channel 4 show Benefits Street
shouldn’t be allowed to have children was a horribly nasty comment. A lad who
grew up in Huyton should know better than to have a pop at people eeking out an
existence. Were it not for football Barton might well have found himself in a
similar situation.
Inevitably
people have lined up to criticise Barton. Yet it is interesting that so few are
prepared to actually engage with what he says. They tell him he is stupid, that
he doesn’t know what he’s talking about, they tell him to shut up. More often
than not they fall back on a simple claim: that footballers have no right to be
talking about social, political or economic issues. By taking an interest in,
and commenting on, the world at large, Joey Barton has broken the unwritten
rule which states sport and politics should not mix.
But there is
something deeper, more pernicious going on here. When people castigate Barton
merely for having an opinion they are indulging in the worst form of class
prejudice. It is epitomised by media rent-a-gob Piers Morgan, once editor of
the Mirror, and with whom Barton
crossed swords in the Question Time debate.
Before the programme the pair traded insults on Twitter, with Morgan writing, “I
don’t need to train for intelligent political debates. You however… well, best
of luck.”
It doesn’t
take much decoding to see the inference. For the likes of Piers Morgan, Barton
is uneducated, unintelligent, and has no right to enter political debate.
Barton’s greatest crime is not that he speaks out but that he comes from the
working class. How dare someone who grew up on a council estate have a
political opinion! Of course we should call him out whenever he tweets
something out of line, but by virtue of his fame Barton has been granted a platform
most people can only ever dream about – and that annoys the media talking heads
more than anything he actually says.