One for the Fans
Aussie Dave | Jun 19, 2006 | 6 comments
Some more light has been shed on the now famous Ghana-Israeli flag waving incident from a few days ago. John Paintsil, the player involved, has explained why he did it:
“I love the supporters in Israel so I decided to take out the flag,” Paintsil said.“I have played for Hapoel and Maccabi Tel Aviv and the supporters there always made me happy so I wanted to repay them.”
Ok, so perhaps not an expression of solidarity with Israel, but certainly a sign of his fondness for Israeli fans. Or could it have been self-preservation?
Israeli soccer pundits said Hapoel were looking to axe Paintsil from their line-up for next season but the club might now want to reconsider.
Whatever the real reason, what is certain is that the Ghanan team have a heck of a lot more Israeli fans now.
Meanwhile, FIFA have stated that they are ok with Paintsil’s actions.
Fifa spokesman Markus Siegler said the game’s governing had no problem with Pantsil’s action.“Its like the mask incident last week when Ivan Kaviedes scored for Ecuador against Costa Rica and pulled a mask over his face to celebrate. Let’s not get too petty about this. I think it’s fine.”
Yeah, far be it for FIFA to get petty.
About the Author
An Australian immigrant to Israel, Aussie Dave has been blogging since early 2003.Filed Under: General
Oh no! Everthing’s world cup now.
Bring back the home movies!!!!!
:p
Shy Guy
Go to:http://bigpharaoh.blogspot.com/2006/02/holocaust-conversation-whenever-i.htm
See Arab reactions please publish them.
The Palestinian strategy for bleeding Israel while playing victim for the rest of the world has been simple: One group controls the government and acts sheepish, the rest attack Israel. The governing group tells the world how it cannot control the other groups since Israel keeps sabotaging its efforts every time it responds to the attacks.
Palestinian terror groups have launched over 120 rockets at Israel over the
course of the past week.
The Palestinian Authority is fully responsible for any attacks emanating
from the Gaza Strip. Unfortunately, it continues to take no action in order
to prevent the daily attacks against Israeli civilians.
Under the circumstances, Israel will continue to act with determination and to employ all means at
its disposal to combat terrorists and their infrastructure, in order to
defend the citizens of Israel.
Dude, You should’ve seen how the egyptians and arabs are reacting to this. (hint: they are not happy)
http://www.sandmonkey.org/2006/06/19/anti-ghana-ism/
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