Is A Footballer Really Worth That Much More?

This article is not going to be very Arsenal-related, but it’s something that I feel needs to be said, simply because I don’t see anyone else saying it, and that pisses me off.

As you all know, unless you’ve lived in a desolate cave all your life, Joey Barton, the Newcastle midfielder, was imprisoned on May 20. He was sentenced to six months imprisonment for common assault and affray outside a McDonald’s restaurant in Liverpool in December last year. Nothing wrong with that you might say. Well, the peculiar thing is that he only served 74 days of his prison term, being released on July 28. Today.

Throughout his career Barton’s personal life has been riddled with controversy. Besides the McDonald’s incident he broke a pedestrian’s leg with his car at 2 am, he was arrested on suspicion of assault and criminal damage after a dispute with a taxi driver – although he was cleared of this, and on 1 May 2007 he brutally assaulted Ousmano Dabo, his team mate at Manchester City, at their training ground. Dabo stated that he had been hit several times and that he had to go to hospital after suffering injuries to his head.

Now, if an average Joe had commited the very same crimes there is no chance whatsoever that he would be released today. And that is a disgrace. I’m wondering if there is a single Newcastle supporter that honestly, and with good conscience, can sing Barton’s name this forthcoming season, knowing that the legal system considers him to be of more importance as a human being than themselves just because he’s a famous footballer. A rich, white, and famous footballer. Obviously that’s all that matters, because there’s probably hundreds (if not thousands) of identical, violent men in their mid-twenties locked up in prisons all over the country that is not receiving the same lenient treatment simply because they’re nobodies. I bet they, along with their families who will have to do without them, wish they had spent more time playing football as a kid.

Kevin Keegan has expressed his support for Joey and he’s giving him a 2nd (more like 328th) chance to redeem himself and Gordon Taylor, of the Professional Footballers Association, had the following to say:

“We’ve tried to help Joey with the Sporting Chance clinic and to be there to help him when he’s needed it. But you need to see something in return.”

“It’s not been good, it wasn’t a good year, but the lad does have ability and you keep hoping he can put it behind him and move on.”

It seems like to them all is forgiven and that Barton will be back to his extremely overpaid dream job. After all, he just physically abused some people in a brutal fashion even though he’s morally obliged to be setting examples for the kids. His previous relapses proves that he hasn’t shown the slightest hint of regret or a will to redeem himself. And even if he said that he would want to make amends – who would believe him, apart from the faithful supporters who probably believe it just because they want it to be true? How could anyone find a sensible cause to single him out and release him while leaving many, many identical cases untouched?

Imagine if this happened to an Arsenal player – would you want him representing your beloved team? I know I wouldn’t. Let’s take it even further; how would the media react if a foreigner had done the same things? I can assure it would’ve been a manhunt of epic proportions. If it were up to me Barton would not even look at a football pitch, let alone participate in a game, for the rest of his life. But, unfortunately, I’m not the one calling the shots on this one.

We all know that the original punishment was laughably low to begin with, and now this? It’s a sick and twisted world we live in; you’re screwed from the outset unless you’re rich, white and famous. Bloody hell, someone please just shoot me. Or, even better, shoot Joey Barton.

Tags: barton, football, liverpool, newcastle, premier league