In addition to my earlier match report, you may have read in the daily rags that Fuller went over to a fan and grabbed him round the throat. You may have also read that Corluka called one fan an idiot after receiving some abuse. The comments and message boards have been alive with people calling for the FA to dish out Rooney-esq bans to both players. As someone who was at the ground and witnessed both incidents, I can confirm that (unsurprisingly) these were woefully inaccurate reports of what actually happened, and the players do not deserve bans.First of all, the Fuller incident. I was sitting approx 2 meters away from this one.
What the papers say happened:
Fuller went over to take a throw in, a Spurs fan was shouting at him, Fuller walked over to the fan and grabbed him by the neck.
What actually happened:
Fuller was chasing a pass that went out, couldn't stop in time and fell into the crowd. The fan in question intentionally hit him in the back and Fuller understandably jumped up and pushed him gently in the chest and walked away. As I mentioned,
I sit a few meters away from this fan, and he is always standing up giving out verbal abuse to both Spurs and opposition players. He deserved a little slap. Everybody around me wasn't screaming for Fuller to be sent off, we were laughing at this angry bloke because he finally got a small taste of his own medicine. Plus, it was even funnier as Fuller was walking away and the Spurs "fan", safely behind the advertising hoardings and surrounded by hundreds of Spurs fans, started screaming for Fuller to "come get some" like some demented 14 year old chav. Big man.The Corluka incident happened on the other side of the pitch to me.
What the papers say happened:
Some Tottenham fans had mocked Corluka for giving Stoke the chance to equalise by putting a free-kick out of play in stoppage time. Corluka, responded by running over to scream at them in Croatian. One fan said: "He was like a man possessed. I was glad Kevin Bond came over and stopped him. Who knows what he would have done?"
Corluka said: "I told one supporter he was an idiot. He was moaning during the match when he should have been supporting the team. I told him to support instead of criticising."
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| Support the team & stop moaning. |
Corluka was playing rugby and kicked the ball out for territory, I'm sure some fans gave him abuse for it over there. The match then went on for a few minutes before it ended. Corluka then walked towards the fan shouting at him, a few of the Spurs staff calmed him down and that was it. According to Corluka, he called the fan an idiot in Croatian and said he was annoyed because the fan was moaning instead of supporting the team. Too right. Sure it was a crappy miss kick, but we were winning and Corluka had been playing reasonably well. Spurs fans have a reputation for being moaners and I completely agree with Corluka saying he should be supporting the team instead of moaning. As for the made up quote from the imaginary Spurs fan the papers are circulating, “He was like a man possessed. I was glad Kevin Bond came over and stopped him. Who knows what he would have done?” I don't for one second think a reporter tracked down a Spurs fan near the incident inside or outside the ground to ask him about this. And if it is a real quote, what sort of moronic Spurs fan would say that and risk getting one of our players banned?
To those two fans - Support the team and don't be such a pair of mouthy twats.
To the FA and the media - Sensationalist tabloid crap. The lot of it. No bans required.
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