Premier League - Murphy: Celebration rules vague

Eurosport - Tue, 15 Sep 19:22:00 2009

Fulham captain and Eurosport-Yahoo! blogger Danny Murphy thinks the rules about goal celebrations need clarifying.

FOOTBALL 2008-09 Premier League Fulham midfielder Danny Murphy - 0

The Adebayor situation is a difficult one. Clearly, he was playing in a big game that generated a lot of media coverage, and as such the whole situation has been slightly exaggerated.

Personally, I am a fan of a bit of banter between players and fans. Adebayor regrets running the length of the pitch to celebrate in front of the Arsenal fans, but at the end of the day, a player has a right to celebrate however he wishes as long as they stay on the pitch and within the rules.

It is hard to establish what is deemed as illegal when a player celebrates, and this is something that needs to clarified. The celebration was most likely a result of a lot of passion for the game, but in an ideal world he would not have done it.

Again, the stamp on Robin van Persie is a difficult one. I cannot say for sure whether he meant it, and the television pictures are far from conclusive. Only Adebayor will know if he truly set out to harm his opponent.

It is difficult to impose a punishment because it is impossible to say for sure that he meant to do it. I do feel for him a little bit as the media have made a big deal out of it

When a player leaves a club of the calibre of Arsenal, there is always going to be a certain amount of tension surrounding his departure. I would not say Adebayor showed a lack of respect. The celebration, in my opinion, was the result of his passion to prove the Arsenal fans wrong.

In an ideal world, players would silence the opposition fans by scoring to keep them quiet. As I said, sometimes passion can run over and players do tend to celebrate in a way that angers opposition fans. A good performance is always the best way to respond to stick from opposition fans.

Given the media speculation surrounding Saturday's events at the City of Manchester Stadium, it is something for the regulatory body to assess and deal with.

Van Persie's comments on the punishment Adebayor should receive are ultimately irrelevant as it is something to be dealt with by the powers that be. Van Persie is a fantastic player in a strong Arsenal team and it is probably best to move on from the issue and focus on his own game.

Fortunately, I have a very strong relationship with fans from previous clubs. Whenever I return to Anfield, I'm always on the receiving end of a good round of applause as Liverpool fans show their appreciation for the successful years that I spent there. That is great to see. Similarly, I have a mutual respect with the Tottenham fans. I can say that I have never really had any abuse from the fans of previous clubs, and long may it continue!

There is always going to be a degree of banter which is always tongue-in-cheek, but sometimes it is not taken in the spirit it should be. That said, it would be wrong to take away this part of the game.

Danny Murphy / Eurosport

Comment 83 - 102 of 102

Sort comments by: Most recent

  1. how about kids ? Could they be shocked by the way he­ celebrated ?
    If a player taunts a crowd of 40 thousand­ opposing fans in a match ,whose to say there won't­ be a riot ? Whose to say tthere wouldn't be some­ injuries if not a death,during of after the­ match
    Adebayor is an idiot,absolutely no brains and is­ a dangerous one at that,i'm not sure his stamping­ on Van Persie was intentional,but he always gets his­ footing wrong and stamped on many ankles,on a face­ though that was a first.He's great at scoring­ ,great at teasing his team mates and makes them feel­ inadequate and in the end,he was bad for­ Arsenal.I'm happy he's gone,but surprised he­ was sold to a Premier's League outfit. It was bound­ to happen and surely,it's Arsenal's fault.

    From coolworld, on Wed 16 Sep 9:50AM

  2. come on danny !
    you see that he pauses, then stamps­ down !!!!
    clearly GBH or even worst, if he had been 2-3­ inches higher
    do not lower the bar on fauls !
    or do you­ want to be seen like a gladiators "to the­ death" just to please the hools !
    YES play hard­ but, KEEP your head and feet to yourself when not in­ direction of play.
    YES accidents can happen, but ade­ clearly was 100% red with automatic ban for van­ persie
    and had around 3-4 possible yellows incl.­ running the WHOLE pitch like a monkey to the away end­
    come on! if he had scored at that end it would not­ have been half so bad.
    senerio
    it had gone off at the­ game, with major crowd trouble
    after sitting out his­ ban, still getting major pay (to the most of us)
    what­ happens if uefa`s "little napoleon" would say­
    "hold up, thats that the 2nd act of violence in­ england in the last 6 weeks
    if something happens in the­ next couple of months
    automatically put a choke hold­ on "the sweet F*** All"
    (when the signs are­ there for trouble they the FA do F*** all, until it`s­ to late !)
    It does not have to be as bad as in 85, but­ it must hurt !"
    what then ?

    From Raphael, on Wed 16 Sep 9:46AM

  3. Hello Murphy,
    Thank you very much for clarifying issue­ on goal scoring celebration, i am not a fan of any club­ but a fan of the winning team that's modern­ footall.
    To me, whether Adebayor celebrate in front of­ Arsenal fans or not thus not violate any football­ rules, let FA and media not to bring political bias­ into football. To me, Adebayor has right to celebrate­ nin front of any fans provided he doesn't go out­ the pitch.
    When they are talking about Celebration,­ what about the fans that were booing the young­ tallisman? What type of punishment goes to those errant­ fans and Arsenal football club? I guess, he tried to­ proved them wrong by celebrating in front of the­ visiting fan.
    He has right to move to any other club he­ like, if Arsenal could lift trophy maybe he could have­ stayed behind. Every player want silver ware not just­ name. Thiery Henry and Patrick Viera left why should­ Adebayor's own be different?
    I guess, if Arsenal­ could have won, there wouldn't have be a room for­ all this noises and propaganda whether it was­ intentionally or not. I call on FA to live up to it­ professional duty by making football more decent and­ attractive instead of involving in dirty policy to­ witch hunt player's or team.
    About Robin Van­ Persie, i can't really say on that, it might be­ different from what we thought but, Adebayor and Van­ Persie knows more better than us. It could be a­ mistakes nor intentionally but know one knows this­ until the investigation is cluded, it will be wrong for­ to rush into judgement by crucifying Adebayor before a­ verdict is pass.
    My advice to Arsenal fans is that,­ they should wait for FA verdict before they judge­ Adebayor, i really sympathized with them over last week­ inccidence and defeat. We should all accept the outcome­ as far there was no bad officiating from the ref, we ve­ seen many cases how ref favoured player's nor team­ but this case wasn't that.
    Big thanks to Murphy for­ giving this opportuinty to contribute.

    From JatoO, on Wed 16 Sep 9:39AM

  4. rules doesn't state that celebrate by running along­ the pitch is illegal, shouldn't be punished for­ that...

    From r^o^, on Wed 16 Sep 7:52AM

  5. Nasasira, my dear boy....Don't you have anything­ better to do??You truly sound like Danny's Bit­ ch.....Get a life or go look for someone else worthy­ licking @#$%...Defending Danny? Please.....

    From YounGunz, on Tue 15 Sep 9:04PM

  6. More inanity from Mr. Potato Head.

    From Lawrence, on Tue 15 Sep 8:11PM

  7. contrarry to Youn Guns comments about DANNY! Plz be­ informed dat Danny needed no authorisation and­ permission from any1..and 2 you information he­ does'nt need whether you read all his comments O­ not but i even think he's right over his comments­ depending on situations dat happened. He did'nt­ make any conclusion O give his judgt over da 2­ issues.he was a bit 50-50 over 2 sides and which is­ fair in football.But i wonder people lyk YOUN GUNS 2­ come up wid such -ve attitude just because he missed ­ his luck n Adebayor utilised it effectively and now­ puts da blame on DANNY..

    From Nasasira, on Tue 15 Sep 8:00PM

  8. contrarry to Youn Guns comments about DANNY! Plz be­ informed dat Danny needed no authorisation and­ permission from any1..and 2 you information he­ does'nt need whether you read all his comments O­ not but i even think he's right over his comments­ depending on situations dat happened. He did'nt­ make any conclusion O give his judgt over da 2­ issues.he was a bit 50-50 over 2 sides and which is­ fair in football.But i wonder people lyk YOUN GUNS 2­ come up wid such -ve attitude just because he missed ­ his luck n Adebayor utilised it effectively and now­ puts da blame on DANNY..

    From Nasasira, on Tue 15 Sep 7:55PM

  9. 102- there was no trouble between the fans you fool,­ just the Arse nal fans acting like inbred bummers.

    From feedthephil, on Tue 15 Sep 7:22PM

  10. By the way who allowed Danny Murphy his own­ blog.........I couldn't read past the first­ paragraph.....To think he is actually a footballer who­ does not see anything wrong or thinks the whole­ situation was some what exaggerated is worrying. Danny­ what if the steward had fail to control the situation?­ What would have happened? Pitch­ invation?Riots?Cancellation of the game..People hurt?­ Danny if you don't have anything to say go kick a­ football or something.....

    From YounGunz, on Tue 15 Sep 6:30PM

  11. The whole point is to avoid trouble between the­ fans......By law any person who insights or causes a­ riot or violence is by his or her actions can be­ charged with a criminal offence.....

    From YounGunz, on Tue 15 Sep 6:18PM

  12. Great article mr Murphy!!!!! Chuma m tis good to know­ there are arsenal supporters not blinded by the love of­ there club! Avellabonello, in such a case where there­ is obvious bad blood btween former team mates i find it­ incredible that u kno for sure what the intentions of­ both players are. Van persie's two footed tackle­ could EASILY have ended in an Eduardo-esq injury to­ Ade. This does not excuse Ade but means if 1 gets­ charged then so should the other.
    Fans need to start­ realizing that its not ok to shout whateva u feel from­ the stands, personal, racial comments and or banana­ throwin actions are unnacceptable and if u were­ subjected to the same at work u also i suspect react in­ some way. Ade didnt react violently, he was passionate­ in a passionate game and i feel that was and should be­ acceptable!!
    Nice one Mr murphy!!

    From jah2fox, on Tue 15 Sep 6:09PM

  13. 87- the tackle happend in a split second there is no­ way Adebayor can adjust his foot in that short amount­ of time unless he can see things in slow motion!­ Watcing it in slow motionon tv will always make it look­ worse!

    From feedthephil, on Tue 15 Sep 5:27PM
  14. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    Adebayor intended to slam his foot down hard to the­ ground after Van @#$% had slid straight through him, if­ Van @#$% is in the way that is his fault for sliding­ in!

    From feedthephil, on Tue 15 Sep 5:24PM

  15. fifa also shud av ban d saudi player dat scores in usa­ 94,cos he also did wat ade did.arsenal fans ar just a­ loser.

    From tunde j, on Tue 15 Sep 5:16PM

  16. Plauers know, really know, when a challenge is late or­ very late, as well as knowing that there is a real­ intention to injure another player. This is a­ cut-and-dried case, he went for the hand and got it. ­
    So-called 'professional ' ? Don't make me­ laugh.

    From hemwise, on Tue 15 Sep 5:11PM

  17. It was funny and exciting!! He had every right­ they're were City fans there too!! I'm a United­ fan...! and I guess if Tevez does that next week­ i'll probally give out!! But then again a charge is­ a bit harsh!!

    From Katey, on Tue 15 Sep 4:55PM

  18. Sorry Mr Murphy, but you are talking @#$%, its very­ clear from the TV pictures that it was intended, its at­ least violent conduct, as for the goal he could have­ stayed and celebrated at the end in which he scored. If­ found guilty by the FA he should take it on the chin­ and move on.

    PS, for the record I am not a Arsenal­ fan, I would still have the same view regardless of who­ kicked who.

    From les, on Tue 15 Sep 4:49PM

  19. I found this piece by Danny Murphy to be spot on ! ­ Objective.
    Adebayor may have overeacted to the­ challenge by VP ... As supporters we have no idea of­ the passion and heighten sense of occassion that occurs­ in a match of that sort. Arsenal are just sore losers.­ They should take their licks and move on. The incidents­ made the match memorable ...isnt that what football is­ all about.

    As for the latent racist tones and the­ throwing of bananas ...shame on you Arsenal fans. And­ all you non white supporters of Arsenal should take­ note .

    Maybe fifth place will be apt for .....

    From mykl, on Tue 15 Sep 4:46PM

  20. i clearly praise you Murphy, you are a good and­ sensational player and an elder. your comment is­ welcome and also stand for good thought. unlike Paul­ Parker who knows how to scandalise a player in a way to­ bring him down, i strongly beleive that Parker is­ jealous of the players that he criticised. keep saying­ what is good and i always enjoy reading ur article.

    From jossykings2007, on Tue 15 Sep 4:45PM
Sort comments by: Most recent

Not already a Yahoo! user ? to get a free Yahoo! Account