Emmanuel Frimpong lived up to his clown tag once again yesterday. He reacted to a Spurs fan by calling him a "scum yid". The Spurs fan in question had stated that he would welcome Frimpong breaking his arms and legs. While this was out of order and not something that most normal people would wish upon anyone, it is only meaningless words from someone who will never meet the Arsenal midfielder. The now infamous figure, Frimpong rose to the bait and in doing so used a word that has antisemitic connotations.
Many people will wonder though, how Spurs fans can use the term yid to describe themselves and complain about others using it against them. It is the tone that is important in these scenarios. When Spurs sing about being yids, there is no anger, there is no hatred, it is simply ownership of a phrase that was used to try and belittle the large Jewish following that Spurs have. When Frimpong calls someone a "scum yid" he is using this as an offensive term, designed to alienate a group of people. In this respect, and i realise this will be controversial, it is similar to the use of the "N" word, a word that is non-offensive when used as ownership of the phrase, but when used to belittle is incredibly racist.
I don't believe Frimpong has the mental capacity to understand what he has said, he thinks it is only against Spurs fans and does not realise when said in the manner in which it was as it is an antisemitic term. For that reason I don't think he should face too much punishment, he should be reprimanded, but not severely, there was no intent to cause pain to the whole Jewish race, and at the end of the day, he has once again shown himself to be a fool. Spurs fans will give him so much stick for the rest of career also, which is no treat, just ask Sol Campbell.
Football has fallen into the trap of "political correctness gone mad" with the recent Terry, Suarez and Ferdinand issues. Twitter isn't helping, it can't be that hard for players to realise that what they write will be seen by everyone, and that sometimes it is better just to keep a lid on it. Ferdinand has been the worst culprit, once again using Twitter to tarnish his successful career. Both Frimpong and Ferdinand are very quickly turning into the clowns of football, and I for one am enjoying watching their hilarious demise.
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