Sense and Sensitivity

Mark Bosnich is guilty. Guilty of not thinking, of acting stupidly, of bad taste. Most of all he's guilty of falling foul of the Thought Police. Years ago Bosnich would have made his gesture, ten thousand Spurs supporters sworn back at him and the whole incident would have been forgotten by the final whistle. But now that kind of thing is frowned upon.

The new breed of football supporter doesn't want to see the passion and emotion that was what made an English football match they greatest pastime on earth. They want a safe, sterile entertainment where families can enjoy themselves and politely applaud the exciting bits.

Unfortunately, in doing a bad Basil Fawlty impersonation Bosnich laid himself open to all sorts of criticism. It's a fact of life that those who want everything sanitised are usually the ones who spend most of their time looking for something to be offended by. Football is particularly affected by such people. Alan Shearer was reported for daring to celebrate a goal last season and lan Wright needing his own police station to deal with the complaints every time he scores. Would that Savo were in similar trouble so often.

To say that Bosnich insulted the sensibilities of Spurs' Jewish supporters is a nonsense. When it happened I didn't think of the Jewish connection, and I don't suppose many others did either. I don't know Mark Bosnich, but I'm prepared to believe he didn't have a clue whether or not Spurs are seen as Jewish, Catholic or Buddhist.

In any case, how often nowadays is reference made to Spurs' Jewish connections? It's a link with the past that has been almost forgotten, and to use it to attack Bosnich is as great an insult as anything he did himself.

If you want really offensive behaviour, then read the Guardian's blatantly racist 'Pass Notes' from 14th October which portrays Bosnich as a Nazi sympathiser, primarily because of his Croatian background. And that's supposed to be the most liberal newspaper in the country. I wonder if they would have dared print such filth if, say, Ugo had been involved.

The whole thing has taken on the elements of farce, If your house was broken into on the afternoon of 12th October then the police probably wouldn't have bothered to visit. But they can find time to investigate Mark Bosnich.

Questions were asked in Parliament about the disgraceful behaviour of Premiership footballers (pots, kettles and black seem to be appropriate words at this point) and MP Glynn Ford said Bosnich should be kicked out of football. You might have heard of Glynn Ford. He's the self-styled friend of the football supporter, responsible for works on racism on the game. You might remember the help he gave to football supporters when we were fighting against identity cards and to anti-racist groups at places like Newcastle and Chelsea. You don't? No worry, neither would anybody else. Glynn Ford likes being involved in football, just as long as we play by his rules and he doesn't have to get his hands dirty. There's a lot of it about

Facist, fool or ignorant. Mark Bosnich would probably plead guilty to the third. It's not a crime. But he's being punished regardless.