There is a phenomenom among sporting fans around the world to really dislike one of the teams of a city or state in which there are two teams, when you barrack for the other team. For instance, in the English Premiere League, Manchester United fans tend to really dislike Manchester City, and vice versa. This rivalry is usually related to “bragging rights.”
Longtime readers may remember I am a huge West Coast Eagles supporter in the Australian Rules Football League (and even used to revel in the fact one of our best players back in the day – Nic Naitanui – had a name similar to ‘Netanyahu’, something he himself referenced in a Twitter conversation with yours truly almost six years ago).
Needless to say, I have never been a fan of the ‘other team’ of my home state of Western Australia – the Fremantle Dockers.
And now I really detest them after their captain – a footballer called Alex Pearce – posted to his Instagram stories the following posts by Irish hip hop trio Kneecap:
For those who don’t know, Kneecap recently came under fire after initially sharing a “f–k Israel, free Palestine” message on stage at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival.
Some uncensored messaging to Coachella pic.twitter.com/WbHZBrCZl5
— KNEECAP (@KNEECAPCEOL) April 19, 2025
This led to them losing their agents and having performances canceled.
But things got even worse after footage of them from November 2024, in which they are seen supporting terror groups Hamas and Hizbullah, emerged:
You’re so right, Taoiseach. It is extremely unclear what Kneecap’s stance is in this regard.
— Rachel Moiselle (@RachelMoiselle) April 28, 2025
I know one of them is filmed here screaming ‘up Hamas, up Hezbollah’ while draped in a Hezbollah flag, but who’s to know what he truly means by that? It remains a mystery to us all. https://t.co/C3MQvlZNkF pic.twitter.com/Tb94dpGjvo
as well as this footage from November 2023 of them wishing death on Tories and telling the crowd to “kill your local MP.”
“They’re fucking Tories. The only good Tory is a dead Tory. Kill your local MP!”
— Ben Obese-Jecty MP (@BenObeseJecty) April 26, 2025
Calling for an MP to be killed should mean an arrest and a charge.
This Government have imprisoned people for far less. Or does being famous now mean Kneecap benefit from Labour’s two-tier… pic.twitter.com/WcSsClZOGv
These videos have led to calls for a police investigation, and the band members to try to engage in damage control by posting the following statement:
They want you to believe words are more harmful than genocide.
Establishment figures, desperate to silence us, have combed through hundreds of hours of footage and interviews, extracting a handful of words from months or years ago to manufacture moral hysteria.
Let us be unequivocal: we do not, and have never, supported Hamas or Hezbollah. We condemn all attacks on civilians, always. It is never okay. We know this more than anyone, given our nation’s history.
We also reject any suggestion that we would seek to incite violence against any MP or individual. Ever. An extract of footage, deliberately taken out of all context, is now being exploited and weaponised, as if it were a call to action.
This distortion is not only absurd – it is a transparent effort to derail the real conversation.
All two million Palestinian people in Gaza are currently being starved to death by Israel.
At least 20,000 children in Gaza have been killed. The British government continues to supply arms to Israel, even after scores of NHS doctors warned Keir Starmer in August that children were being systematically executed with sniper shots to the head.
Instead of defending innocent people or the principles of international law, the powerful in Britain have abetted slaughter and famine.
This is where real anger and outrage should be directed towards.
To the Amess and Cox families, we send our heartfelt apologies, we never intended to cause you hurt.
Kneecap’s message has always been — and remains — one of love, inclusion, and hope. This is why our music resonates across generations, countries, classes and cultures and has brought hundreds of thousands of people to our gigs.
No smear campaign will change that.
Suddenly, days after calling out the US administration at Coachella to applause and solidarity, there is an avalanche of outrage and condemnation by the political classes of Britain.
The real crimes are not in our performances; the real crimes are the silence and complicity of those in power. Shame on them.
Of course the statement is a joke; the footage does not lie, and that is not even the all of it:
This is with whom Fremantle Dockers captain Alex Pearce is defending and aligning.
Since the other Kneecap footage has emerged, Pearce has been silent. He has neither apologized nor clarified his stance. And the Fremantle football club has not commented either, despite being asked to by the West Australian newspaper (mind you, so was the Australian Football League, and nothing from them yet either).
Alex Pearce has hurt Fremantle’s fans who are Jewish or otherwise detest the terrorist murders of men, women, and children.
Shame on him and shame on the damn Fremantle Dockers football club.
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