West Bromwich Albion made their first signing of the summer yesterday, signing Wigan winger James McClean for £1.5m. Hardly a marquee signing, but one that has caused controversy amongst several fans lending to the question of whether politics should be brought in to football.
James McClean is a player not short of controversy. Vocal in his Republican views, reviled by some for switching allegiance from Northern Ireland, with who he played up the ranks, to the Republic of Ireland, and perhaps most commonly known for refusing to wear a poppy on his shirt in games around Remembrance Sunday.
Simply, he is a divisive player. In his final year at Wigan he finished as their top goalscorer and player of the year, despite their relegation, though there are still Wigan fans that dislike him. At Sunderland, he was a fairly popular player until the Everton game where he opted to not wear a poppy; after that, he was booed by his own.
He clearly has the potential and the skill to be a top player, despite Wigan’s misfortunes, but it is impossible to not look past the politics. Arguably, the low price paid for him could be because of the extra baggage. He won’t be liked by all of The Hawthorns faithful (a quick glance over any fan forum highlights this), but equally he will put in a shift, try his hardest…he knows he has a point to prove, and he knows he needs to hit the floor running for some of the fans to change their perception.
McClean’s reasoning for not wearing a poppy is fair enough. In his own eloquent open letter to Dave Whelan he clearly explains that were the poppy simply a way to remember the soldiers from the World Wars he would wear one, but they are used in memory of those that have fought since, including those that fought in Bloody Sunday.
McClean, coming from the Creggan Estate, where 6 innocent people were killed on that day, feels wearing a poppy would be disrespectful to the people in his town. Regardless of personal views, McClean has valid reason for his own belief and should be free to do this without the criticism of the supporters.
It’s brave of McClean to be so open about his viewpoint on the poppy, as he knows it will split the opinions of fans at any football club he plays for. It is entirely possible that other players have felt the same, had their own reasons for not wanting to wear it, but just done it to avoid the backlash that comes.
The danger of politics in football is that the fans that go to watch will have their own views, and, likewise, other players will have their own opinions. Depending on what that political view is, the difficulty for that player in the way an atmosphere can change in a stadium to even the pressure off other players can be huge. And, as with McClean, valuation can often be lower than it would be otherwise if that view can make them look a ‘risk’.
The fact is, as soon as footballers enter the world of politics they are deemed controversial. Sometimes fairly so, sometimes not. When Jason Roberts, Rio and Anton Ferdinand amongst others chose to not wear the ‘Kick It Out’ campaign t-shirts they were met with both abuse and praise. Joey Barton appeared on BBC Question Time, again garnering both positive and negative press. And then there are the extremes, the Paolo Di Canio’s, Christian Abbiati’s and Diego Maradona’s of this world. There will be many Albion fans wondering where McClean would sit.
With the media exposure players find themselves under, especially with social media, there is very little that can be done to hide political sidings, but then should a player be forced to hide his own views to placate the supporters of a club he will play for?
The sad truth is, for players like James McClean, their political outwardness makes life harder for themselves. The player has to work hard to win over the fans that disagree with their views, and the football club itself must wish that the views remained hidden as it will affect player value depending on the leaning.
At West Brom, McClean will find himself at a stable club, and he’ll be eager to impress. The supporters appreciate hard work, and if he scores important goals many may forget his politics. If not, then he may be in for a tough time off sections of his own fans as well as opposing fans.
It speaks volumes that, despite not even kicking a ball for the club yet, and being, potentially, one of the smaller transfers of the summer at West Brom, James McClean has caused such divisiveness amongst fans already.
Politics and football; better left alone.
